The Story Of Us
by AnonymouslyBeautiful
Summary: He flirts, she flirts back. She teases him, he teases her. Maybe ations do speak louder than words, but it certainly won't get them anywhere unless they can forget about their stinking pride. / A series of one-shots, eventual Jack/Kim.
1. Elephants and headaches

**A/N: Heyheyhey! So, I've seen a lot of people doing this ... A series of one-shots that are somewhat - or not at all - connected, and I figured I should give it a try myself. I've had this first one finished for quite a while, but I was kinda nervous about posting it. Oh, and yeah, it's not as long as I would've wanted, but since it's my first I'm guess I'm okay with it.**

**Happy reading!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It, unfortunately.**

* * *

Kim Crawford wasn't her usual sarcastic, nice and funny-self today, but she didn't want anyone to notice. She hated feeling weak, hated people's pity, hated off-days.

And what did she hate even more than that? – Many things, actually, but right now she totally despised headaches, with a passion.

Seriously, her head was pounding like crazy, and also her vision was blurry. And just to make it even worse, it was like every single, little sound was enhanced by a thousand.

And yet, the blonde didn't want anyone to know. Yeah, that girl and her stupid pride.

"Kim!" The blonde picked up her pace at the familiar voice, but he caught up to her of course.

"Didn't you hear me call your name?" Jack Anderson, one of the blonde's best friends, asked curiously.

"No, sorry, I didn't," Kim took this excuse without hesitation.

Jack nodded slightly, unsure whether he should believe his best friend. After all, even if she was still horrible, she had gotten _a lot better_ at lying.

"Kim, are you okay?" he asked.

The blonde merely nodded; she was worried he'd know she was lying if she started talking.

Jack nodded slightly as well.

"Whatever, you heading to practice?" he changed the subject, although he still didn't fully believe her.

"Yeah, but I need to swing by Captain Corndog first…" was the blonde's answer.

She didn't even bother to ask Jack why he was wondering this, and instead she just kept walking, knowing Jack was walking right beside her.

"I'll walk with you." Jack stated as they both spotted Captain Corndog a few feet away.

"No, duh," Kim said sarcastically, walking up to the door of the shop.

Yeah, she managed to give a sarcastic comment, but she was worried Jack had noticed her heart wasn't really in it.

The blonde swung the door open and entered the shop. She was kind of in a hurry, practice started in ten minutes, but she allowed herself a look around the place before shouting into what seemed like nothingness, "Grace? You here?"

A tall, slender, beautiful brunette appeared in a door that Kim assumed lead to the kitchen or something, "Ah, you're here!"

Kim decided to drop a sarcastic comment this time. She might've fooled Jack, but she couldn't fool Grace, _ever_. The two girls were too close.

"Oh, and hello to you too, Jack!" Grace, being her oh-so-friendly self, said to the brunet who stood a few feet away from the duo.

Kim reached her hand in her sports bag and pulled out a black iPhone 4S with a pink cover.

"Here you go," Kim said as she handed it to the brunette. Grace gladly accepted, and she pulled her best friend into a quick hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, I so love you, Kimmy!" Grace said with a grin on her face.

The blonde simply rolled her eyes at this, "Whoa, take it easy, it's just a phone. And don't call me Kimmy, you idiot."

Now it was Grace's turn to roll her eyes. The two girls shared one last hug before Kim and Jack walked out and headed for the dojo.

The two teenagers walked in silence for a little while, both of them unsure of what to say.

"That was…" Jack began, but his voice trailed off.

"Awkward? Weird?" Kim suggested as she looked up at him with a slight smile.

Jack just nodded.

Kim reached her hand to her temple; simply because it hurt so bad it was unbelievable.

"Kim, seriously, are you okay?" Jack asked, noticing her little hand-movement.

Kim sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, trying her best not to show him she was lying.

The two friends entered the Bobby Wasabi dojo, and Kim wasn't exactly sure if Jack believed her or not, to find their three other best friends already dressed, and stretching on the mat.

"Hello y'all," Kim greeted, her southern accent showing.

All of the guys greeted back with a smile.

After some exchanges of a few words and some short conversations Kim sat down on one of the benches.

She started breathing calmly to try and relax, although she knew it wouldn't really work.

"Kim, you okay?" Jerry asked the blonde.

Wow, if even _Jerry _could notice the blonde's change of behavior, then she certainly hadn't hid it as good as she'd thought.

Kim closed her eyes at the loud sound of Jerry's voice – in her head it sounded like he was literally yelling in her ear.

"Yeah, Jerry, I'm perfectly fine."

"Kim, are you sure? You really don't seem fine," Milton stated.

Kim rolled her eyes.

"The perks of having a smart friend," she muttered sarcastically, later praying the guys hadn't heard her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," was all Kim said as she pulled her water bottle out of her bag and took a huge sip.

Water was supposed to help, but it didn't. She'd already drink a lot more than necessary, and eventually she'd given up on the water-thing.

Jack sighed, "Look, guys, if Kim said she's fine, then she's fine. I would say that she'd never lie to us, but we all know she would," the guys laughed at this. "So instead I'm gonna say that Kim knows to take care of herself, or so she says, and she wouldn't worry us unless needed to, okay?"

Was it just something the blonde was imagining, or did Jack look directly at her when he said the last part of that speech?

Kim shook her head. She was really losing it.

Or was she? – Jack had basically said he thought they were good enough friends for Kim to be able to tell them if something was wrong, and yet, she still hadn't said anything about the horrible headache.

Some friend she was.

But, wasn't it better if they didn't know? At least on Kim's behalf? – They'd think of her as weak, a girly-girl, someone who couldn't handle something as simple as a headache.

Was she really willing to take that risk, after working so hard on her "reputation" when it came to the guys? – No.

The answer came to her mind in a split second.

No, she couldn't risk them feeling differently about her, she just couldn't.

Hastily, she met Jack's eyes, he gave her a reassuring smile, and she gave him a "thank you for standing up for me and making those idiots shut up"-look.

"Guys, I'm gonna go change," Kim slowly said before breaking the eye-contact with those oh-so-chocolate-y eyes.

Kim headed off to the girls' locker room with slow and calm steps; her head was still pounding like crazy.

"Hey, Kim!" Jack interrupted.

Kim somehow managed not to cover her ears when she heard Jack speak – or almost yell – and she also managed not to shoot him a death glare.

"Yeah, Jack?" she said, not turning around to actually face him.

"You'll tell me if there's something wrong, right?" he asked hesitantly.

Kim couldn't answer that question, she really couldn't.

Jack meant that you could tell your best friends anything, no matter what it was – but Kim meant that she couldn't tell anyone when something was wrong, because she hated feeling like a weak, little girl.

So, instead of answering the question she just carried on with her walk to the locker room, ignoring Jack calling out her name several times.

She'd tried her best to cover it up when walking with Jack and talking to Grace and the guys, but now it felt like the headache had backfired on her.

The second the door closed behind her, a wave of dizziness caught her. She desperately reached her arms out to try and catch something to hold on to, but it was useless, she was in the middle of the room.

It was like the whole freaking room was spinning and the blonde felt like she had to throw up.

Then, it was like an elephant was dropped on her head, and she was on the floor before she even knew what had happened.

"Oh god," was all she was able to get out.

She'd been able to reduce her fall just a little though, so luckily she didn't pass out.

But now that she thought about it, passing out would've been better.

She didn't see a thing; everything was a blur, her left ankle hurt like crazy and it was like her head was attempting to pound her to death.

And maybe, her stupid head would actually _succeed._

Now she'd wished she'd told Jack when he asked her the very first time. Or that she'd thrown a sarcastic comment at Grace so she'd figure it out. Or that she'd told the truth when the guys gained up on her.

She just wished she'd told someone.

But no, she was all alone in the girls' locker room, with the door locked, on the floor, her own head trying to murder her.

She realized she couldn't exactly let her head win, she had to do something.

Kim hastily sat up, everything still hurting like crazy.

She grabbed a t-shirt of hers from the sports bag that was, thankfully and loyally, lying on the floor next to her, and tied it around her ankle to apply pressure. It wasn't like she was new to this kind of thing (ankle-injuries that is).

Then, with shaky hands, she put her hair up in a ponytail. Now she looked around in the room, unsure of what to do next.

"I'll give you that, you actually do know how to take care of yourself."

The sound voice made Kim jump and she almost covered her ears at the sound as well,_ almost_.

Hastily, she turned around to face the source of the voice that'd made her jump like ten thousand feet in the air.

Jack Anderson.

"How much did you witness?" Kim asked coldly.

How could he spy on her? – Some friend he is.

Suddenly, Kim was happy she hadn't told anyone. She didn't feel sorry for herself anymore; she didn't feel like a bad friend.

She'd been able to handle it herself when she needed, so she hadn't needed to tell anyone about it at all.

"More than enough," the brunet answered.

Kim rolled her eyes, "What kind of an answer is that, you idiot?"

Jack merely shrugged, making the blonde roll her eyes again and turn away from him.

Jack sighed, "Kim, I'm sorry … Rudy wanted me to check in on you, since everyone else was sparring. I heard a thump, and the door wasn't locked for some weird reason, so I went in. And believe me, I was just about to rush forward and help you when you sat up like nothing had happened."

Kim smiled at this statement. How nice of him, well, sort of.

"Well, it ain't that bad." Unfortunately, her voice went like three vocals higher when saying this, so he knew she was lying.

"Mmhhmmm," Jack said sarcastically.

Kim looked down, her back still facing Jack.

"Okay, so it's bad," Kim stated, praying Jack wouldn't throw in another sarcastic comment.

"Kim, look at me," Jack simply said.

Kim hesitated for a couple of seconds before turning to meet the brunet's eyes.

Jack didn't say anything, and this was aggravating to the blonde, "What, Jack?"

Jack smirked, "Kim, you need to go home."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Kim sighed in defeat.

"Fine, I guess you're-" here she cut herself off.

Jack rolled his eyes; he wondered how long it would take for that girl to be able to admit that he was right about something.

"Jack?" Kim quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah, Kim?" Jack snapped out of his thoughts and met the blonde's eyes.

Kim sighed, "Help me up, will you."

Jack laughed slightly.

So she wasn't able to say he was right about something, but at least she didn't have a problem asking him for help, thank god.

"Sure Kim, anything for you," he said sarcastically, although he did help her up.

He also held her by the waist as she halted out of the locker room. All of the guys looked at Kim in raw surprise, but the blonde just rolled her eyes at them, and Jack mouthed something about telling them later.

"Jack?" Kim said.

"Hmm?" Jack said.

Kim held her hand out in front of him, "I think you owe me money to take the bus, unless you want me walking the long way home with a headahe of ourse."

Jack rolled his eyes at her as he reached his free hand in his pocket and handed his best friend a ten dollar bill.

Kim grabbed the bill, pulled away from Jack and started walking/halting to the exit.

"You're not even gonna say 'thank you'?" Jack questioned.

"Thank you," the blonde retorted before the door closed behind her.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's it for mah first one-shot in this story, and I hope you enjoyed it! I'll update when I get the chance, by the way.  
**

**Oh, and reviews are greatly appriciated, thank you!**

**- Brooke.**


	2. We are family

**A/N: Hello there! I'm back with the second chapter/one-shot/whatever, yay! So, school starts back up for me tomorrow (remember I'm from Norway, so that's probably why I start earlier/later than you do), and I really wanted to get this out before that. I uploaded this a couple of days ago, and the re-writes and stuff like that were done earlier today. So, in other words, I literally finished this minutes ago :)**

**DISCLAIMER: Nope, I don't own Kickin' It, or Scream 4.**

**(Changed one 'Anderson' to a 'Brewer' 27.12.12!)**

* * *

The baby started crying … again.

Kim looked up from her plate and shot Jack a glare, "I can't believe you made me do this!"

She pushed her now empty plate away from her, and crossed her arms as she waited for him to answer her.

He looked at her for a second before he answered her.

Her eyes looked tired, but her smile made her look awake. Her dress was completely invisible underneath the hoodie she'd borrowed from her older brother, and her hair was put up in a quite messy bun.

She looked incredibly comfortable.

While Jack was wearing jeans and a shirt. He wished he'd put on sweats though.

"I didn't make you do anything, you agreed, now get the baby, it's your turn," Jack eventually answered.

Kim stuck her tongue out at him, then she muttered something about cleaning the table and then she was heading upstairs.

Jack merely let out a sigh and started cleaning the table. He was going to go mad if things continued the way they were, with the baby and all.

"Don't babies sleep at all?" Kim muttered angrily to herself.

She needed to keep her phone in her mind every now and then; otherwise she'd just lose her motivation.

She entered the bedroom, and allowed herself a look around. The walls were painted in a light blue, which Kim found absolutely adorable.

The little, white, handmade crib was placed in one corner of the room, under the window was a bench which contained diapers and such and in another corner was a huge, king-like, black chair Kim had promised herself she'd try at least once before she left later on.

Kim bent down and picked up the teddy bear that had been lying by her feet and she put it with the other ten thousand stuffed animals.

To be honest, she highly doubted little Christopher was that fond of stuffed animals.

Ignoring her wandering thoughts and changing her focus to the still-crying baby she walked over to the crib as slow and silent as possible, worried she'd just scare him and he'd cry even more.

Finally she reached out her arms and picked up the little guy. She fastened her grip, not hard enough to hurt him though, as she pulled him close to her chest.

He was so adorable it was unbelievable. He didn't have much hair, but the little hair he had was the same shade as Jerry's, black as a raven. Then there were his cute, little fingers and toes and his heart-melting ice-blue eyes.

He was wearing a pair of grey shorts and a blue t-shirt, as well as a pair of different socks, one was blue with green dots and the other was orange with red stripes.

Kim shook her head furiously as she again did her best to focus on the baby, "Shh, it'll be alright Christopher, shh, I'm here, I'm here."

She kept going on like that for what felt like forever, although she didn't mind, and eventually the crying stopped.

Kim looked down at the little guy to find him asleep in her arms, and with a smile, she gently put him back in his crib.

"You're really good with him," a voice suddenly said from behind her.

Kim didn't bother to turn around, or answer him for that matter; she merely kept her eyes on the sleeping baby.

"You'll make an excellent mother someday," he continued.

Kim's eyes widened at this, and to say she was shocked would be an understatement. She stiffened, and turned to look at Jack slowly.

She looked like she'd seen a ghost, but then again, she kind of had.

"Um, thanks?" She finally got out, although it came out more like a question, and it wasn't hard to hear the uncertain tone of her voice.

Jack merely sighed, deciding not to ask her about it.

Without hesitation, he grabbed a hold of her wrist, he started dragging her with him downstairs again and Kim was still too shocked to argue with him.

"You want to sit down?" he asked as they finished the stairs, but the blonde merely shook her head in response.

"You're lying," he said with a smirk.

Kim rolled her eyes, but she nodded to show him he was right.

She looked around in the oh-so-clean house, which never seemed to stop surprising her. First there was the high-tech kitchen Kim was stoked they didn't have at her own house – she'd tried using the stupid kitchen, but she couldn't cook and everything was too hard for her to understand.

Then there were all of the flowers this family had everywhere, and surprisingly enough they were all real and none of them looked anything close to dead.

And lastly, the furniture. First off, there was a lot of it – like they'd tried their best to fill the house which as much furniture as possible and secondly the furniture was so nice, comfortable and elegant it was hard for her to believe.

But, she didn't mention any of this to Jack.

She still wasn't over the compliment he'd given her.

"Did you mean it?" Kim suddenly blurted out as she watched Jack making his way to the living room.

He turned around to look at her, "Meant what?"

"That I'll make a good mom someday," Kim said, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah, you'll make an _excellent_ mom someday," he said with a smile that Kim didn't return.

Jack looked at his best friend; he was getting pretty worried with her unusual silence.

Kim had always been the girl who could light up a room without even trying. She was someone who made everyone feel included in the conversation, someone who could argue/discus for weeks, someone who could make anyone laugh.

When she was sad, it brought everyone down, simply because 'the light' was gone.

"Hey, are you okay? Did I do something?"

Kim offered a half-hearted smile, "No, no of course not. It's just that … your compliment about me making a good-"

"Excellent."

"-Mother, well, it made me think about my own mom. She always used to say that to me when I was younger; she said that that in spite of my horrible cooking, I'd be the best mother ever," Kim said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are, but unfortunately, sorry won't bring her back," Kim looked down again.

"I take it I need to get some candy from the kitchen," Jack joked.

Kim laughed, making Jack smile.

"Yeah, actually, that sounds pretty good," she said.

No one liked it when Kim Crawford was sad, and Jack Brewer certainly wasn't an exception.

He'd do practically anything to cheer her up, although it tended to be a lot harder when it was something about her mother that made her upset.

Crying. Christopher. Again.

Groaning, Kim started heading back to the stairs.

"You get the candy and pick a movie, I'll take him," she stated.

Jack offered a smile, "Thanks."

Kim rolled her eyes, "I want candy, and you have this crazy idea that I'll make an excellent mother, so me going upstairs makes much more sense then you going."

As Jack rolled his eyes, the blonde left the living room hurriedly.

"By the way, I still can't believe you made me do this!" Kim yelled from the staircase.

Jack laughed as he walked to the kitchen, and he started putting random pieces of candy into a bowl, remembering how they'd gotten themselves in the mess in the first place.

_-Flashback-_

"_So, what did you want to tell me again?" Kim asked curiously._

_He'd been bugging her during practice about how he had something terribly important to tell her, but he wanted to tell her in private, hence the booth at Phil's where they were currently eating._

_Jack immediately broke into a grin, making Kim wonder what could possibly make him that happy._

"_I found us a way to make one hundred dollars each," Jack said, the grin never leaving his face._

"_No freaking way!" Kim exclaimed, struggling to keep her voice at a normal volume._

"_Way."_

"_Yay, that totally means I can finally get my phone back!" Now Kim broke into a grin as well._

"_What, you overdid the texting-limit by a couple thousand texts again?" Jack teased._

_And the grin on the blonde's face disappeared again._

"_No!" Kim retorted._

_Jack cocked his head to the side, giving her a disbelieving look._

_Kim shrugged, "I swear it was only around eight hundred."_

_Jack laughed, "Sure, cause that makes it so much better."_

_Kim rolled her eyes as she gently smacked his shoulder. _

_She couldn't help the fact that she texted a lot. And frankly, to go from overdoing the limit by a couple thousand to eight hundred was a great accomplishment in Kim's eyes._

"_So, what do we have to do to get hundred dollars?" Kim asked._

"_We have to babysit my cousin," Jack answered._

_Kim's lips curved into a smile, "Is it a girl or a guy? What's your cousin's name? How old is she or he?"_

_Jack scratched the back of his neck uncertainly, "Um, first things first, are you in?"_

_Kim smiled, "I sure am! Now, answer my questions."_

"Christopherisfourteenmonthso ld_," Jack said the words too quickly for the blonde to understand a thing._

"_Say what now?"_

_Jack sighed, "Christopher is fourteen months old."_

_Kim merely repeated, this time more angrily, "SAY WHAT NOW?"_

_-End of flashback-_

Kim appeared next to Jack all of a sudden, making the brunet jump slightly.

"That was fast," he said.

Kim laughed, "Yeah, I guess the little guy is finally getting tired. Oh, and if I didn't say it before, your cousin is incredibly adorable!"

"It runs in the family," Jack said with a cocky smirk.

"Really? Why haven't you got it then?" Kim teased.

"Shut up, Crawford," Jack mumbled as he returned to whatever it was he was doing.

Kim smiled. They were all alone in a big house, with a baby, and all they'd done since she'd gotten there earlier had been talking and watching TV.

Some might consider it boring, but Kim never considered anything boring. She meant that pretty much everything could be exciting if it was done with the right person.

Take Jerry for example, he was the guy she could call up and ask if he wanted to head down to town to shop or to go girl/guy-searching with.

And Milton, he was the perfect study-buddy, as well as someone Kim could turn to if she was in need of a normal – and mature – conversation.

And Eddie, he was the guy you'd go to if you were bored. Seriously, the kid always had something to do. And if you were in desperate need of food, he was your guy.

And as for Jack, he was someone Kim could talk to for hours without it getting anything close to boring.

"Can I have a piece of candy now?" Kim asked sweetly.

"Shouldn't you wait 'til we start the movie?"

"Jack, c'mon, just one!" Kim said.

Jack turned to look at her.

And as soon as they made eye-contact, Kim offered her puppy-dog-face, the one thing that would always make Jack give in.

"Pleeeaasssee?" Kim said.

Jack looked at her for a second or so before he sighed in defeat, "Okay, okay, help yourself."

Kim let a triumphing smile spread across her face as she grabbed a piece of candy and stuffed it in her mouth.

They walked to the living room after a little argument about who had to carry the bowl of candy and start the movie.

Kim sat down on the incredibly comfortable couch and offered a smile, "What movie did you pick?"

"Scream 4," Jack smirked. "Don't worry, you can always hold on to me if you get scared."

Kim snatched the candy-bowl from him and snorted sarcastically, "Sorry do disappoint you, but Kim Crawford doesn't get scared."

"So says you," Jack mumbled as he sat down next to her on the couch.

"Yeah, and I'm always right," Kim backfired.

Jack sighed, "I give up, okay?"

Kim never answered him, but they came to an unspoken agreement to start the movie.

"It feels incredibly surreal, doesn't it?" Kim suddenly said; the start was simply too boring for her own taste.

"What does?" Jack retorted as his eyes went from the screen and over to Kim.

Kim laughed, "Me, you, Christopher. I mean, this is gonna sound so stupid, but it's kinda like a little family."

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" Jack was getting it now.

"How do you feel about it?" Kim asked before she took another piece of candy from the bowl.

"I agree with you that it's pretty surreal … but to be honest, it's also quite nice," Jack answered with a smile.

"Do you … ever think about it? Your future? Having a family?"

They'd never really talked about stuff as serious as this, the two of them, but they had to come across the subject sometime.

"I try not to, as I'm only fourteen, but yeah, I've thought about it from time to time," Jack answered.

"And?"

"And I do want a family … someday. How about you?" Jack asked.

"Three kids and a loving husband, that's what I want," Kim answered with a smile.

"I see you've got it all planned out," Jack teased.

Kim smacked his arm lightly, "Shut up, it's a girl-thing."

"And here I thought you hated girl-things…"

"I've never said that, have I?"

"Well, not really, no," Jack admitted.

Kim smirked. "You need to stop jumping to conclusions."

"Hey, I don't usually do that!" Jack protested.

"Really, Jack?" Kim rolled her eyes. "Remember when you first came here and you didn't think someone like me knew anything, whatsoever, about karate?"

"Okay, okay, but I admit that was wrong of me."

"Thank you," Kim said with a smile.

"You're welcome I guess."

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Kim said.

Jack tried his best to hide his surprise, "Sure, what is it?"

"Answer honestly, okay?" Jack nodded. "Do you … actually, never mind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it wasn't that important."

"Okay then," Jack let out a yawn.

Kim smiled at him before she returned her attention back to the flat-screen TV with the movie playing.

"Hey, Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"I like our family."

"Me too, Jack, me too."

Kim rested her head on Jack's shoulder and let out a yawn.

"Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Wake me up before we leave, I need to try out that chair in Christopher's room."

"Okay…?"

And with that, the blonde closed her eyes and her mind drifted off to who knows where.

Jack smiled at her, "Like I said, Kim, I like our family."

* * *

**A/N: That's it for now, hope you enjoyed this. I kinda wanna get through my first weeks back at school before I start writing the third chapter/one-shot/whatever, so the next update might be a little slow, just so you know.**

**Oh, and thanks so much for both the favorites and alerts on the first whatever, I really appriciate it!**

**Reviews, on the other hand, I was kinda hoping for more than three - but THANKS SO MUCH to the three of you who did review, you made mah day - so, this time I'm gonna ask you.**

**Mind dropping a review for me? - Something as little as four or five words really can make my day, and besides, I need/want to know what you guys think about this story!  
What do you think's gonna happen next? What do you want to happen next? Any ideas you'd like to offer? What do you love about it? What do you hate about it/something I could've done better? And most importantly, are you enjoying the story?**

**Please, take the time to type in at least four or five words, you have no idea how big of a difference it would make.**

**- Brooke.**


	3. Real or fiction?

**A/N: There's been a change in my pen-name, btw! Used to go by _Blackbeltbeauty,_ but now I'm writing to you as _AnonymouslyBeautiful_ :) **

**I'm on my third week of school now, so this got published later than I had expected ... but whatever. I'd like to say a few things, starting with the fact that already 16 of you have this on alert! - I'm shocked out of my mind about this, and you have no idea how happy I am :) Also, thanks for the reviews on chap. 2, that meant a lot! - If you reviewed on chap. 2, I can assure you that you made my day!**

**_Clove is a ninja_ - First, thanks for mentioning that, I'll definately work on it. Although in this chapter I think I used 'Kim' and 'Jack' too much, but nothing else would fit. Also, yeah I know, that was what I was trying to do :)**

**_Maddy_ - Don't feel disappointed, I _will _make a part 2 for the second chapter, _but _it'll come much much later on in this story though ... so, now you have something to look forward to! :)**

**That's it, happy reading!**

**DISCLAIMER: As much as I wish I did, I don't own Kickin' It.**

* * *

Kim Crawford had never – under any circumstances – pictured herself sitting on a rock, in the middle of a forest she'd never once entered in her entire life, with half a bottle of coke in her right hand and Jack's cellphone in her left, with her brother's jacket put on because of the cold, and with a smile plastered on her face.

She'd never thought getting lost could be anything close to fun, but she had proven herself to be terribly wrong. Her and Jack had gone on a walk to find some more wood for the fire, and then they'd just never returned.

Not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. They had – of course – argued about which way they should go, and eventually decided it would be fair to take the way none of them thought was right.

That way lead to nothingness though, and they'd gotten lost.

Kim groaned as the dude she was playing as on Jack's cellphone – Temple Run – died, because she'd ducked just a little too late.

Unwillingly, after some seconds of hesitation, she gave the brunet his phone back.

"I died," she stated flatly. "Stupid game."

Jack chuckled as he started playing himself, "You're the worst loser I've ever met in my entire life."

Kim rolled her eyes at his insult. "Then you obviously haven't met yourself."

Jack decided to ignore her comment, "Still no signal."

"This sucks," Kim let out a frustrated sigh. "But then again, it doesn't."

"I agree."

Silence fell between the two of them once again, as they didn't really have that much to talk about.

Kim looked around.

Although there wasn't exactly much for her to see, mostly because it was really dark by this hour.

She could make out all of the hundreds trees around them, a huge rock or something a few feet away and her best friend sitting in front of her, totally focused on his phone, looking like he had lost his connection to the real world.

And that was it.

"Wanna hear a story?" Kim asked after a little while of boredom, waiting for Jack to die and finish up with the game-playing – but it looked as if that would take longer than she'd anticipated.

"Is it one of your ghost-stories again?" he questioned. "Because those really suck."

"They do not!" she snapped at him, causing him to burst out laughing at her.

"Okay, you wanna hear the story or not?" she asked as she got tired of his mocking laughter.

Jack put his cellphone away to give the blonde his full attention, "Sure, let's hear it."

"Don't get scared though, 'kay?" Kim said with a teasing smirk.

Jack rolled his eyes, "That won't be a problem, trust me."

Kim nodded at him as she shifted in her position to be more comfortable. She flipped her hair, straightened her hoodie and smiled at him. He looked back at her, eyes wide with interest.

"So, there's this legend," she began. "That tells a story about a young couple who one day decided to take a late night walk in the forest."

Jack smirked at her. "Are you implying that we're a couple, Kimberly?"

"I never said this story had anything to do with the two of us," she said. "And don't call me Kimberly!"

Jack put his hands up in defense, "Okay, okay, go on with your story."

"So, once upon a time," Kim rolled her eyes at how clichè it sounded when she said it out loud. "There was a young couple who decided to take a late night walk in a forest close to their house, a forest they'd never once entered before, a forest they would always regret going into."

"I like the intro," Jack muttered.

Kim shot him an annoyed look before taking a sip of her coke.

"Sorry, go on."

The blonde rolled her eyes, "So, they started walking further and further into this unknown forest while they were talking about stuff."

"What kinda stuff?" Jack interrupted.

"Not important!" she retorted, shooting him a glare.

He rolled his eyes, "Alright, keep going."

"As they were walking there was a noise interrupting their conversation, or more precisely, a loud thud, like something or someone had been dropped to the ground just a couple of feet away from the young couple. But, when they looked around them, they saw nothing but trees and darkness," Kim continued telling her story.

"But wha-"

_Bang._

Kim jumped at the sound that thankfully cut off Jack's interruption and looked around frantically, "Jack, what was that?"

"I'm sure it's nothing, Kim," Jack said, but his trembling voice wasn't exactly convincing.

_Bang._

"There it was again!" Kim exclaimed. "Jack, that wasn't nothing!"

He shrugged helplessly, "I have no idea what it is, Kim, and I don't see anything."

Kim groaned. "I can't believe we're actually getting scared because of some bang in the middle of a freaking forest!"

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "Just go on with the story, I'm sure it really is nothing."

Kim nodded, "Right, so, the couple couldn't see anything, and eventually they gave up and continued on their walk. When the sound interrupted them yet again the girl got pretty worried, but the boy dismissed it and told her to just keep on walking."

"Stupid people," Jack muttered.

"I know, I know."

Jack sighed, "Sorry, again, go on."

Kim nodded, "Right, so what happened next was tha-"

_Bang._

"Okay, now I'm seriously freaked out!" Kim admitted, looking at Jack with frantic eyes.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes, "I don't know, but please do something!"

Jack looked at his best friend in the dark. Her eyes were wide from fright, her voice was trembling and he noticed her hands were shaking because of the dancing bottle of coke in her right hand.

Without thinking much about it, he rose from his seat on the ground to check what had caused the bangs.

"Jack, get back here!" Kim hissed.

"You wanted me to do something, that's what I'm doing!" he retorted dismissively as he walked up to a small group of trees.

"Jack!"

He chose to ignore her and continued to check behind every tree and bush and rock. He couldn't find anything - not even just a little hint - of the bang they'd heard three times.

He had no idea where the sound had come from, let alone what caused it.

"So, what happens next in that story of yours?" the brunet asked to take her mind off of things.

"Oh, right," Kim sighed. "So they kept walking, ignoring all of the loud thuds, but the girl was really scared though. And when the guy didn't get an answer from his girlfriend on this question he asked, he turned around and found out the girl was nowhere to be seen."

"She probably bailed," Jack interrupted.

Kim groaned, "No, she didn't, because the guy heard her heartbreaking screams coming from all around him, but he couldn't see anything at all … only trees and rocks."

_Bang._

"Just go on with the story, Kim," Jack said before his best friend was able to complain about the bangs again. "Just ignore it."

Kim nodded. "Alright, so he couldn't see anything, he only heard his girlfriend's screams. As helpless as he was, he looked up at the sky and said that they could take him instead, if they only left his girl alone."

"I like that guy," Jack said as he rounded yet another tree.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Of course you do, Jackie."

"Hey, don't call me that!" Jack yelled back angrily.

"Sorry," Kim chuckled. "But you keep interrupting the story."

"I'm sorry, keep going," he said.

"You say that every time though!" Kim pointed out.

Jack poked his head out from behind the giant rock a few feet away from the blonde, "Do you want to start an argument with me, Kimberly?"

Kim merely shook her head in response.

The two of them had never had an argument – only small disagreements, like when Ricky and Brody came in the picture, or when Kim stopped the skate park from getting built because of a rat or when Jack was stupid enough to let Kim win in a sparing-match. Or just the usual teasing that happened several times a day.

But an actual argument – with screaming and name-calling and accusing – they had never gone through something like that.

And they were both smart enough to keep it that way.

"Then go on with your story," Jack stated. "I'm actually starting to like it."

Kim sighed. "When he yelled that, a man appeared in front of him. He was dressed in all black, and his face was covered by the shadows. In the man's hand was a giant, sharp, deadly knife and behind him were three other guys, as well as the dude's girlfriend, and the three guys held onto his girl so she couldn't escape. Seeing her like that broke the poor boyfriends heart, and it didn't exactly help that she had tears running down her cheeks."

Kim paused, expecting Jack to interrupt her again.

But the interruption never came, and Kim started looking around to find him, worried out of her mind. When she spotted him by a group of trees she let out a sigh of relief, and something pretty close to a smile appeared on her face.

"Something wrong?" he asked, looking at her worriedly. "You stopped telling the story."

She shook her head, "Nah, everything's fine, I was just making sure you were okay."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Just finish the story, Kim, I'm perfectly fine."

_Bang._

"Ignore it!" Jack yelled.

_Bang._

Kim groaned, "It's hard."

_Bang._

"I know, but please try!"

_Bang._

"Alright, alright," Kim took a deep breath. "The girl started yelling at her boyfriend to get away and save himself, but of course he refused. He started running towards the man with the knife, hoping to get past him as easily as possible. The man was already prepared though, and he slashed a giant cut across the boyfriend's chest."

Kim paused again, this time for dramatic effect.

"This isn't a movie-theater!" Jack yelled. "Keep going!"

Kim rolled her eyes. "He got cut across the chest, and he also had his left hand cut off-"

"Was he left- or right-handed?" Jack interrupted.

Kim face-palmed at his idiocy, "Right-handed, Jack, no worries."

"Okay, fair enough, go on."

"The boyfriend managed to kick the knife away as the man walked up to him, and as the knife was kicked away the man mentioned something about getting his revenge. Then he just ran as fast as he possibly could and he helped his girlfriend get away from the three other jerks, and he told her to get as far away from him as possible. The girl didn't understand why, but she ran."

"What happened then?" Jack asked, now fully engaged in the story.

Kim rose from her seat on the rock that turned out to be much more comfortable than expected, "Two days later the police found a dead man in the woods, he had a cut across his chest and his left hand was nowhere to be found. Next to the dead man was a note that said 'Because he wouldn't let us take the person we actually wanted' which was written in the dead guy's own blood, as disgusting as it sounds."

"So," Jack said. "That's it?"

"Well, not exactly. The bad guys were caught several weeks later, thanks to the knife they found a couple of feet away from the dead guy. The girlfriend was able to stay alive, and the caption of the bad guys put a stopper to all of the murders in that town," Kim added, almost as an afterthought.

"They were kidnappers?" Jack asked from behind a tree.

Kim nodded, although he couldn't see her face. "Yup, professionals actually. The thuds were their own doing, as they were trying to get the boyfriend away from the person they were actually planning on murdering-"

"The girl," Jack interrupted.

"Yeah, the girl," Kim confirmed.

"I gotta say, that story actually wasn't all that bad," Jack admitted.

A pleased smirk spread across Kim's face, "Told you my stories don't suck."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jack said. "Do you have any other stories?"

"Sorry, no." Kim stated.

"Well, then what are we supposed to talk about?" Jack asked.

No answer.

"Kim, I asked you a question!" he yelled.

No answer.

"Kim?" He asked uncertainly.

A scream – a high-pitched, heartbreaking, terrified scream, actually.

"KIM!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs, trying his best not to jump to conclusions as to what could've happened to her.

Another scream – a little lower this time, and not as frightening to hear, but still a scream.

"KIM!" Jack tried again.

Still no answer.

Jack quickly ran away from the group of trees he'd been searching by and up to the place he'd seen Kim just seconds earlier.

But there was no one there. Only a rock, thousands of trees and darkness – but no Kim.

Jack looked around frantically, but all he saw was trees, rocks and darkness. Kim was nowhere to be seen, unfortunately.

"KIM!" Jack tried for the third time, praying to get an answer from the blonde.

But no, he didn't hear as much as a sound.

He started walking around – as if Kim was messing with him and hiding behind a tree or under a rock or something, but obviously that wasn't the case.

Yet another scream – this time it was one of those incredibly high-pitched screams that would make you want to cover your ears.

Jack let out a frustrated sigh as he once again started looking around – but, unfortunately, he couldn't see Kim anywhere.

"Jack Anderson."

Jack looked up at the mention of his name, only to come face-to-face with an unfamiliar figure dressed in black, and the person's face was covered with a balaclava.

By the sound of the voice – which was low, hoarse and kind of creepy – Jack knew it was a guy. But it wasn't the black clothing or the creepy voice that left Jack staring at the person with his eyes wide in fright, unable to move the slightest bit.

What caused that was what the man had in his hands – a knife. Not necessarily a big knife, but it did look pretty sharp – and as Jack had no clue when it came to knifes, he considered it deadly as well.

Seconds later, Jack spotted the unthinkable, and if possible it scared him even more than the man with the knife.

Because, a few feet away from Jack and the man were four other people.

Three of them were – same as the one with the knife – four guys, dressed in all black, and their faces were impossible to make out because of the balaclava. They were all standing above the fourth person, looking down at them.

The last person was a girl.

A girl with blonde, messy hair, dressed in a pair of jeans and a hoodie that was just a little bit too big for her. Her eyes were puffy and red, and there were tears running down her cheeks.

The girl was none other than Kim Crawford.

"Kim!" Jack yelled, completely forgetting about the man in front of him with a knife in his hands.

She looked up in surprise as she heard his voice. She tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it was really hard to believe when she had tears running down her cheeks.

"Jack," she said, her voice cracking at the end of the word.

Jack looked around, trying to think of something to do to save his best friend. Eventually he decided on the one thing he probably shouldn't do, and he dashed forward towards the man with the knife.

"Jack," Kim yelled. "No!"

Jack decided to ignore her – he knew he couldn't just bail on her – and continued running towards the man.

"No!" the man yelled.

Jack rose from the ground, aiming his foot at the knife the man was holding.

He kicked the knife away – he had really no idea where it ended up – and the stood up from his perfect landing to face the man.

"Jack, no!" Kim yelled again.

Jack decided to ignore her yet again and he aimed a kick at the man's stomach, knocking him to the ground.

He walked up to the man on the ground, and raised his fist. He shot the unrecognizable guy a glare and then he smashed his fist towards him, aiming for the guy's face.

"Jack, stop for god's sake!" Kim yelled again. "That's Rudy!"

Jack's fist stopped mid-air, on pure reflex, only a couple of centimeters from the guy's face.

He didn't bother to remove his fist, and instead he shot Kim a look, "Say what now?"

"Well, you see-" Kim cut herself off and looked up at the three guys standing above her. "Can you guys help me up?"

Jack was about to rush forward, worried the three guys would hurt her, but he remained standing in his spot with his fist just a few centimeters away from the guy's face.

The three guys did as they were asked, and they were able to help Kim stand on her feet – or foot, as she only stood on one leg – but she had to lean of the shortest of the three guys for support so she wouldn't collapse to the ground.

"Okay, what on earth is going on?" Jack asked, both confused and worried at the same time.

Kim let out a sigh, "The guy who was about to have an ugly conversation with your fist, that's Rudy. And as for these three, it's Milton, Eddie and Jerry, obviously."

"How's that possible?" he asked.

"Well, according to them, they woke up because they couldn't sense our presence," Kim rolled her eyes at their friends' idiocy. "So they started looking for us."

Jack nodded, "What's with the black outfits though?"

"Mosquitos man!" Jerry exclaimed angrily.

The tallest and skinniest of the three, who was probably Milton, nodded, "Yeah, they're everywhere, it's like they eat people!"

"Totally!" the third one, Eddie, chimed in.

Kim shot them a look, beckoning for them to shut up, "Anyways, you disappeared into the darkness, and when you didn't answer when I called I assumed you were too far away. And then, those idiots came sneaking up behind me."

"That's why you were screaming," Jack said.

Kim nodded, "Yup, and then I screamed again when I tripped and hurt myself."

"What about the third scream?" Jack interrupted.

Kim shot him a glare, "I was getting to that."

Jack sighed, "Sorry, go on."

"The third scream was Jerry, actually, who saw a spider. Oh, and I did hear you yell me name one time ... but since I was busy crying in pain I wasn't able to respond, sorry."

"You're forgiven," Jack rolled his eyes. "What happened next?"

"They helped me get back here, but eventually I told them we were close enough and that I just wanted to sit down. Milton, Jerry and Eddie kept asking if everything was okay and Rudy was walking around and looking for you," Kim finished, flashing Jack a smile.

He sighed, "Then what was with the weird voice and the deadly knife?"

"Okay, first off," Rudy said, his voice still creepy. "My voice is like this because I had an allergic reaction to some cookies Milton brought with him."

"You ate my cookies?" Milton exclaimed, his voice a good mixture of suprised and angry.

The man who was supposed so be Rudy shrugged, "Well, there's one left ... I think."

After that statement Jack was no longer in doubt that it really was Rudy lying on the ground in front of him, under his fist. So the brunet removed his clenched fist and offered his sensei a hand.

Rudy accepted, and Jack helped him up.

"And the knife?" Jack then asked.

Rudy shrugged, "Eddie said there would be mangos here, and I love mangos."

"Rudy, we're in the forest, not Africa!" Kim yelled.

"Whatever, Kim," Rudy muttered bitterly.

"Everything making sense now, bro?" Jerry asked.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, I think so."

"No, wait!" Kim spoke up.

They five boys looked at her with both curiosity and concern filling their eyes.

"What?" Eddie asked.

"Jack and I heard these bangs a while back," Kim said. "And I know you guys didn't cause that."

Jack's eyes widened, and he looked at each and every one of his friends, hoping at least one of them had the answer - he wouldn't be able to go sleep without one.

"Yeah, we heard that too, yo," Jerry admitted. "That's what woke us up!"

Kim arched an eyebrow at him, "I thought our missing presence is what woke you guys up?"

"Yeah, that too!" Jerry said a little too quickly.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Okay, you can't pick both, it's either or!"

"Doesn't have to be, it can be, like, we had trouble sleeping because we didn't feel your presence and then a loud bang woke us up!" Jerry said, seeming pretty pleased with himself.

"Okay, that doesn't even make sense!" Kim stated.

Jerry shot her a glare, "Yes it does!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"GUUUYYYYS!" the remaining four yelled.

Kim and Jerry shot each other the deadliest glare in the history of glares, but the two of them did stop arguing.

"You wanna hear the explanation of the bangs or not?" Milton asked.

Kim shrugged, "Sure, let's hear it."

The red-haired boy nodded, "So, about half a mile away from here there's a shooting rink. I guess there was a person who needed to release some anger or something."

"Okay, now everything's explained," Jack confirmed.

Kim nodded, "Now I say we get back to our camping spot, eat some marshmallows and tell ghost-storied until we pass out."

"Sounds pretty perfect to me," Eddie agreed with a smile.

"You guys go ahead," Jack said. "Me and Kim will catch up to you."

"Kim and I," Kim corrected.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Kim and I."

"Okay, we'll you at the camping spot!" Jerry said as he headed off into the trees.

"Yeah, see ya!" Kim yelled back at him.

When Jack reached Kim, the others were long gone. He wrapped her arm around her waist, and she wrapped her around his shoulders, so she wouldn't fall when they started walking.

"You okay?" Jack asked.

Kim sighed, "Not right now, no, but I will be."

"I hope so," Jack smiled. "Hey, who knew getting lost could be so much fun?"

"Tell me about it!" Kim said with a smile.

Jack laughed, "We even lived through that story of yours."

"Yeah, except the part where you died for me though," Kim reminded him.

"I would've, you know," he said.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right."

"C'mon, you really don't believe me?" Jack questioned.

"Well, I don't know," Kim shook her head. "To be honest, I think you did mean it, but you were hoping I'd say I would do the exact same thing and then you'd tease me about having a crush on you, and the fact that you said you would die for me would be completely forgotten."

"You're too smart for your own good, Crawford," Jack stated.

Kim laughed, "Not really, I just know you too well."

* * *

**A/N: Now, I'll admit this did come out a bit more silly/weird than intended, but I had a blast writing it. And I didn't really like the ending - I suck at endings - but I couldn't think of anything else, so yeah. Don't know when chap. 4 will be up, but I have started on it ... maybe about two weeks from now? - Oh well, we'll see :)**

**RREVIEW, thanks.**

**- Brooke.**


	4. Homework, boredom and detention

**A/N: Oh my goodness, how long has it been? A month, perhaps? - Okay, that sounds like too many days, but I'm sure it's pretty close to a month, at the very least. Sorry for that. I never intended to take so long to write this chapter ... it was just a bit more difficult than the others I've written, as I at first couldn't find a decent plot, and later on it was way to short and I had to lenghten it and blablablabla.**

**Anyways, here it is! - Hope you enjoy it ... and maybe it even weighs up for the long wait?**

**DISCLAIMER: Doesn't matter how I much I want to, I do not own Kickin' It.**

**(Changed five 'Anderson's to 'Brewer's the 27th of december 2012!)**

* * *

Jack Brewer was – yet again – stuck in Saturday detention.

He'd seated himself all the way in the back, anyone's favorite seat in a classroom (excluding Milton), and his face was for once buried in his history book.

For the first time in a very very very long time, Jerry Martinez wasn't there to join the brunet on the weekend-spoiler, for reasons Jack didn't know of.

There weren't that many people in the tiny, claustrophobic classroom, other than Jack himself and the rude teacher who went by the name of Mr. Peters there were nothing more than six other people.

A brunette sitting in the front, frantically looking around as if someone would fall from the ceiling and attack her, and a couple – one of those rebel-ish couple every school has – sitting somewhere pretty close to the middle, very busy eating each other's faces and grossing everyone out at the same time.

Jack was surprised the teacher hadn't said anything about it – but then again, Eddie had told him Mr. Peters was a romantic guy. Jack had always wondered how Eddie knew that, but he was kind of afraid to know the answer, so he'd never asked.

Joining the freaked out girl on front row was another girl with an overall nerd-charisma hanging over her, and as she straightened her glasses and kept on reading the fat book she had clutched in her hands Jack assumed the girl wasn't supposed to be in a place like this.

The last two were some guys Jack didn't really know, but he had heard Milton talk about them a while back – so he just figured they were on the school's soccer-team.

With a sigh, and out of things to do – except his homework, which he was avoiding for as long as possible – Jack leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

"Miss Crawford," the teacher broke the ever-lasting silence in the tiny classroom. "You're late."

Jack immediately snapped his head up and flashed his eyes open at the sound of the familiar name of his best friend – and yes, there she was in front of the teacher's desk, dressed in her cheerleading outfit, looking totally beat.

Kim let her eyes sweep across the crowd – or tiny group of people – and her eyes rested on Jack for a little longer than the others, and she flashed him a smile.

"Oh yeah, I had to steal a bus to get here," Kim retorted the teacher dismissively as she realized he was waiting for an answer.

Jack chuckled at the memory of when they broke Jerry out of detention, and just how well Kim had played her part as 'Wholelata Trouble'.

"You stole a bus?" the teacher practically yelled, his eyes wide in surprise.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Of course not, cheer practice went late."

Kim was one of the very few students who didn't have a problem back-talking to the teachers or drown them in sarcasm – and even though it didn't always turn out in her favor, it always gave someone a good laugh.

"Take a seat, Crawford," Mr. Peters said, ignoring her sassiness.

She offered one final eye-roll before she started walking in between, in front of and behind both desks and chairs to find herself a place to sit.

She stopped to greet the two football-players and to shoot the annoying couple a glare – but besides that she walked straight to Jack and took a seat on his left, by the window.

Jack didn't want to bother with a greeting, so instead he smirked at her. "Kimberly Crawford in detention, huh? Now I truly have seen it all."

"Oh, shut up," Kim pushed him playfully. "And don't call me Kimberly."

Jack put his hands up in defense, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry."

"Whatever, mind telling me what on earth you're doing in Saturday detention, Jack?" Kim asked in a monotone voice, sounding like she didn't really care.

Jack eyed her suspiciously – and just then he noticed how much paler she looked, the bags under her eyes and the spark in her eyes completely lost.

"Are you okay? You seem …" his voice trailed off, somewhat because he wasn't able to find the right description of her state and somewhat because he didn't want to offend her.

"Beaten up? Dead? Tired beyond belief? Zombie-like? Like someone who's just finished fighting in the war?" Kim suggested, a fake smile plastered on her tired face.

Jack merely nodded; still a bit worried that he would offend her if he actually said she looked like a zombie, or like she'd been beaten up by a gang of idiots.

"What did they do to you at practice today?" Jack asked melodramatically, although he was curious to know the answer.

Kim looked at him with a dead-serious look, "You don't wanna know."

Jack merely rolled his eyes in response – although he was sure if Kim didn't think he wanted to know, then he probably didn't want to know either.

"You never answered my question, you know," Kim pointed out. "Why are you here?"

Jack shrugged, "Receiving punishment for trying to help out a guy."

"Who?" Kim asked curiously, eyebrows raised.

Jack shook his head, "That's not relevant to the story, Kimmy."

"Then what is?" she asked, fortunately avoiding his use of her horrid nickname.

"Some dude was bullying him, and I was helping him out and that was it," Jack explained shortly, nodding at the end of his sentence as if to confirm that's what happened.

Kim didn't buy it though, "Did you punch him?"

"No!" Jack denied immediately.

Kim cocked her head to the side, giving him a disbelieving look.

"I didn't, I swear!"

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, if that's you story."

"It's the truth, Kim!" Jack exclaimed helplessly.

"Yeah, I said whatever."

Jack sighed in defeat as he allowed himself a glance at the homework he had to turn in on Monday, and he'd barely started – the worst part was that he didn't have any excuses, as they'd been handed the work almost a week early.

"Hey, Kim, will you-"

"No," she cut him off.

Jack shot her a look, "You didn't even know what I was gonna ask though!"

"You were gonna ask if I could help you with your homework," she sighed. "Basically meaning that you wanted to ask me to do your homework for you."

"Okay, so you did know what I was gonna ask," Jack said with a sigh.

Kim rolled her eyes at him as she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes. She did cast a glance at the books covering Jack's desk, but then she just turned her head back and closed her eyes again.

"Wait, why are you in here?" Jack asked when he remembered she'd never told him.

"None of your business," Kim answered, her voice was now hoarse.

"That bad, huh?" Jack teased, hoping to get the answer out of her.

She groaned, "Think what you want Brewer, I'm honestly too tired to care."

"Okay, fine," he sighed. "I guess I'll just start on my homework."

When she didn't answer, he took it as yet another 'I don't care' and he began writing the essay that had been haunting his dreams for the past week.

He didn't realize he'd said this out loud until Kim's voice interrupted his thoughts, "You've dreamt about essays, really?"

He laughed slightly, "Um, yeah."

She shifted in her position so her back was facing him, "Sounds boring."

"Yeah," was all he said in response, as he was slightly embarrassed about saying his thoughts out loud – he noted that he needed to be more careful, or he might blurt out something like how his favorite color used to be hot pink.

After thinking this, he immediately shot a glance at Kim – he was worried he'd said it out loud – but she looked unaffected by his thoughts, thankfully.

"Jack," he heard Kim muttered after some short minutes of silence.

He was slightly annoyed with her for breaking his concentration, but he did put his pencil down and looked at her with a somewhat smile on his face, "What?"

She muttered something he didn't quite catch.

"Come again?" he asked. "You're being ununderstandable."

"Ununderstandable isn't a word, you moron," she corrected him.

He rolled his eyes, "What else am I supposed to say then?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Just not ununderstandable."

He rolled his eyes at her, "You were saying?"

"I'm bored, when do we get to leave?" she repeated, her voice still quite hoarse.

"I have no idea," he retorted dismissively as he returned to writing his essay.

"So, at first you're desperate for a conversation, and then you choose your homework over me?" Kim asked melodramatically, but it wasn't very believable due to her bored tone.

"I was never desperate," he concluded. "Now shut up and let me write."

Kim shot him a glare – which he pretended not to take notice of – before she returned to her previous position with her eyes closed.

Jack sat there writing as if his life depended on it, which it kind of did.

When he was about halfway through he was getting pretty bored, but he couldn't talk to Kim because he'd told her to shut up so he could focus on his essay.

The other people in the room he didn't even know the names of, but he let his eyes wander across the room anyway – only to accidentally make eye-contact with the teacher and immediately look down again.

The brunet let out a defeat sigh as he realized he would have to talk to Kim, because he really didn't have anything other than his essay to turn to.

"Kim," he tried, staring straight forward.

No answer.

"Kim, c'mon!" Jack whined.

Still no answer.

"Kim, I'm bored," he admitted, thinking that maybe that would bring her to talk to him.

She didn't answer though.

He groaned, "Kiiiiiiim."

No answer.

"For god's sake, Kim, can't you just…" as he finally turned his head to look at the blonde his voice trailed off.

She was leaning forward with her head resting on her desk, her arms tucked around her like some sort of wall and her blonde hair was spread out in any direction possible. He couldn't see her face due to the arm-wall, but he could clearly hear her calm breathing.

"You're asleep?" he blurted out in pure disbelief.

Sure, she looked like she'd been fighting a war, but there was no way the girl could fall asleep in detention thanks to a couple of minutes of silence, right?

Jack shook his head as he stared at her again – she looked like she actually was sleeping, and if she'd been faking she would've jumped up and scared him to take back at him for ordering her to shut up.

He glanced at the pencil he'd put down a little while earlier, then at Kim and then back at the pencil. Jack knew very well he shouldn't, but it really was too tempting – who hadn't wanted to stab Kim with a pencil every now and then?

Hesitantly, he picked up the pencil and shifted in his position so he was facing her and then he lifted the pencil and aimed for her stomach.

The brunet had the biggest grin on his face as he imagined Kim's reaction, and just as he was about to actually stab her in the side with the pencil he was interrupted by the surprisingly calm voice of Kim Crawford, "Make one more move with that pencil and I'll break it."

Jack shrugged, "Fine by me, it's your pencil anyways."

Kim jerked her head up at this comment, her tired eyes meeting Jack's – and she didn't exactly waste any time shooting him a glare.

She figured there had to be something wrong with him this Saturday – he'd punched a guy (which he couldn't admit for some weird reason), he wanted to do his homework, he confessed to dreaming about essays, he'd demanded her to shut up and he was planning on stabbing her with a pencil he'd apparently stolen from her.

The blonde was about to lash out on him when her eyes finally found the weapon – or more precisely, the pencil Jack claimed as hers.

Her features immediately softened at the sight of the pencil, and the slightest hint of a smile appeared on her face.

"You still have that?" she asked, gesturing to the pencil.

The pencil was a light pink, with Hello Kitty-faces covering the most of it. She'd lend it to him during a test a year back, claiming it would give him both a good grade and some luck – then she'd forgotten to ask if she could get it back, and the times she remembered it she always figured he'd lost it.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I figured that either you would want it back someday, or I could just keep it."

She smirked at him, "So, it did give you good grades, huh?"

"Not only that, it also gave me some good luck," he said with a smile.

She rolled her eyes, "Then why are you in detention finishing up work you should've done days ago?"

"It gives me luck on other levels, okay?" he retorted a bit harsher than intended.

The blonde merely rolled her eyes yet again – if any of them had bothered counting it would've been the third time since she entered the classroom minutes ago.

Jack glanced at the pencil, "So, you want it back?"

"Nope," Kim shook her head. "First off, I think you need it way more than I do."

"And secondly?" Jack asked, choosing to ignore her insult.

She shrugged, "You now have something to remember me by."

"Oh yeah, I can see it now," he chuckled. "The pink Hello Kitty-pencil's gonna remind me of my fearless and tough best friend Kim Crawford."

Kim laughed at his words, "So I'm obsessed with Hello Kitty, but you just said you'll remember me as fearless and tough thanks to the pencil, so obviously the pencil doesn't affect much of what you think of me."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Whatever Kim."

They both sat in utter silence for some seconds – Kim still caught up about the whole pencil-thing, and Jack lacking stuff to talk about.

Usually when they were hanging out the conversation just went by itself, without neither of them actually having to put any effort into it. They rarely suffered through awkward silences, and they always had something to talk – or discuss – about.

Jack sighed, "Why are you here, Kim?"

"I told you it's none of your business!" she exclaimed, annoyance written all over her face as she glanced at him sideways.

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, but it is by business. And honestly, how bad can it be?"

"Really bad," she said with a smile, making her words hard to believe.

He scoffed, "Yeah, right."

"Let's talk about something else," she suggested, looking around in the classroom. "For example, we can do people-watching."

He arched an eyebrow at her suggestion, "People-watching?"

The blonde nodded eagerly, "Yeah, people-watching."

"Okay…?" Jack said uncertainly.

Kim rolled her eyes, "I'll start … with Mr. Peters."

She stopped in what could've been the middle of her sentence as she studied the bold-headed teacher dressed in clothes that were just a little bit too tight for him – thinking about what she should say.

The two of them rarely did people-watching, it was mostly when they were at the skate park or at the mall, when they were tired and had absolutely nothing to talk about.

This situation was actually quite similar if they hadn't been in detention.

"He's a grumpy old man who hates his job because he doesn't really like kids, he just had the dream of becoming the coolest teacher ever when he was younger," the blonde smirked. "Oh, and his wife is the one buying his clothes as a silent please for him to lose some weight."

Jack burst out laughing at Kim's words – and so did she, after trying and failing to stay serious for about a second or so – earning them confused looks from the other students and a glare from the teacher.

"Okay, okay, your turn," Kim said as the laughter finally died out.

Jack nodded as he began searching the 'crowd', eventually deciding on the freaked out girl sitting on front row.

"That girl," he jerked his head in her direction. "She watched a scary movie last night, and she barely got any sleep, and I think she's convinced that this is a scary movie."

Kim leaned closer to him, intrigued by the scary movie-reference.

"Really? Than may I ask what sort of roles the nine of us would have?" she asked.

Jack smiled at the thought as his eyes wandered around the classroom again.

"The freaked out girl is obviously the victim, and the nerd-girl is the girl in the background who we will eventually need to save the day and the couple is, well, the couple, and those guys are the idiots who will get themselves killed for trying to act like the heroes," he said matter-of-factly, giving Kim the impression he knew what he was talking about.

Or maybe he was just addicted to scary-movies.

"And Mr. Peters?" Kim asked, already knowing the answer.

"The villain, of course."

Kim looked at him again, "And me?"

"You are," he smirked at her. "The girlfriend."

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You're the girlfriend," Jack repeated, the smirk never leaving his face.

She rolled her eyes at him, as she had heard him the first time – she just didn't believe her own ears.

"As in, the hero's girlfriend?" she asked, receiving a nod from Jack.

She shook her head in disbelief, "The one person who does nothing but sit still, look pretty and maybe talk a little bit from time to time?"

Jack nodded again.

"Wait, lemme guess," she finally realized. "You're the hero, aren't you?"

Jack smirked at her, "Your words, Kimmy, not mine."

"What, no, I didn't mean it like that!" she insisted.

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever, if that's your story."

Kim smacked his arm as he used her own words against her and shot him a pretty threatening glare.

"Hey, I'm not the one who implied that we're a couple!" Jack exclaimed – he was trying to act all innocent with his hands raised in defense, but the smirk on his face made the gesture very unbelievable.

"Mention that one more time, Brewer, and I'll rip you into pieces, and then sow you back together just so I can rip you into pieces again," Kim threatened.

Jack rolled his eyes, "No need to get so mad, Kim, everyone knows you have a crush on me!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

A death-glare.

An eye-roll.

Silence.

"You never mentioned your own role in that scary-movie of yours, you know," Kim spoke up.

Jack chose not to look at her, "I'd be the hero, of course."

"What?!" Kim yelled, causing everyone in the classroom to look at the two of them.

"What?" she repeated, her voice at a normal volume, if not lower. "You just accused me of implying that we're a couple by calling you the hero, and then you do the exact same thing?"

He merely nodded.

"And you expect me not to accuse you of having a crush on me, and not to accuse you of implying that we're a couple?" she asked sarcastically.

And with a smirk, he nodded again.

"Idiot," she concluded.

He rolled his eyes at her, but he was happy she'd dropped the subject, although he didn't understand why.

"Okay students, you're dismissed," Mr. Peters spoke, breaking the silence that had formed in the classroom when Kim and Jack stopped talking.

Jack looked around frantically – he could hardly believe how quickly time had passed by.

The freaked out girl sprinted out of the classroom without a second of hesitation – unlike the two boys who walked like two snails, laughing and talking like they didn't have a care in the world.

The nerd-girl shared a conversation with the teacher before she left – and the gross couple also shared something before leaving, a kiss.

Jack looked to his right to see that Kim hadn't moved the slightest bit, and her eyes were resting on his desk.

"What?" he asked her as he motioned to stand up.

She sighed, "I'll help you with your homework, Brewer."

He shot her a half suspicious, half surprised look, but he decided not to ask about it and just take her offer – he also noted that he owed her one.

"Miss Crawford? Mr. Brewer?" Mr. Peters voice interrupted their new-formed study group.

"I never thought I'd say this, Mr. Peters," Jack said with a smile. "But we're gonna stay in detention for a little longer, thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Voila!**

**I hope you're pleased to know that I've already started on the fifth chapter, and I'm hoping this'll come to your liking. I just need to make sure it doesn't end up too clichè ... it's pretty horrible atm, so it'll be out in anything from 2 to 4 weeks :)**

**Thank you so much to those of you who reviewed, favorited and alerted, you guys make mah day!**

**Maybe you can do it again? - REVIEW, please! (Favorites and alerts are gladly accepted as well, thank you.)**

**- Brooke.**


	5. Purple and sunsets

**A/N: Hey there, I'm back again ... sorry for the delay (I had planned getting this out on tuesday once I got home), but I've been drowning in school-work and tests lately, as well as other stuff, which leaves less room for writing. But, better late than never, right?**

**Also, I'd like to thank everyone who favorited, alerted and most importantly; reviewed on the last chapter, y'all brought a smile to my face! It just amazes me that so many of you like what I'm writing, you know? - I have 32 followers for this story for goodness' sake, and that, to me, is completely mind-blowing ... here I thought this story would go unnoticed.**

**DISCLAIMER: Here's something you never would've guessed; I don't own Kickin' It.**

**(Changed two 'Anderson's to 'Brewer's 27/12/12)**

* * *

Kim Crawford fastened her grip on the paint-roll as she again started rolling it up the used-to-be-completely-white wall which was now in the process of being painted purple. She let out a frustrated sigh as she looked around and realized just how little she'd actually done so far, which was weird considering she'd been going on for hours – both her sweat pants and the giant t-shirt she was wearing were full of spots of purple, and Kim was positive her hair was halfway purple as well.

She had never imagined that giving her room a makeover would be so much hard work – at first it was nothing but a simple wish in the very back of her mind. But then her dad gave her the go-signal, and before she knew it her room was completely empty, apart from her valuables, and she was shopping paint with her dad and furniture with her brother. And before she'd even made the final decision, she was begging Jack to come to her house on Saturday and help her painting, or at the very least bring some of his excellent cupcakes for her to have.

She was now beginning to doubt her best friend, as she'd painted three out of four walls, and put three coats on two of them. How she was thinking she when it came to her painting she didn't know, she just did what felt right.

She wasn't sure if painting felt right anymore though, her arms were turned into spaghetti after about an hour and a half, and sooner or later her legs would give up on her as well.

"Crawford!"

Kim jumped at least five feet in the air at the sound of the familiar voice, and if her grip on her paint-roller hadn't been as tight as it was she probably would've dropped that in the process.

"Damn it Jack, don't freaking scare me like that!" Kim exclaimed angrily as she looked up to greet her best friend with one of her famous death glares.

The brunet was leaning against the doorframe with a tray of perfectly made and very tasty cupcakes in his right hand – he also had a grin plastered on his face, which was unmistakably there because he'd frightened Kim with his abrupt arrival.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," He chuckled. "Sorry I'm late too."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are, you're just lucky you brought cupcakes to tempt me with," Kim said.

Jack picked up one of the cupcakes and handed to the blonde, "Here you go, one for all of your amazing work."

Kim took the cupcake without arguing, "That's funny, considering you don't even know what I've been doing."

"I already said I was sorry for being late, what more do you want?" Jack exclaimed.

Kim took a bite of her cupcake, looking at Jack with a hint of mischief in her eyes, and a smirk plastered on her face, which caused Jack to groan. He hadn't planned to give her any ideas, or to come and watch her work, but she'd begged him to, so he'd eventually agreed. His plan had been to simply stop by, compliment her on her work and then leave, but he knew it was impossible – they would start talking, and before he knew it it would be dinner-time or something like that.

"Well, you could help me with the first coat on the last wall while this dries?" Kim suggested.

Jack made the mistake of looking her in the eyes as she asked him for help, and therefore he nodded, "Sure, get me a paint-roller."

Kim handed the brunet a paint-roller without a word, and then she took a seat on the floor – seeing as the room lacked any sort of furniture – and crossed her legs, looking at her friend working with a smile on her face. He as actually pretty talented when it came to painting, she noticed, because unlike herself, he looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. She shrugged it off, thinking it was because he'd probably painted his entire household when he moved to Seaford – even if he didn't have to. The blonde took a bite of the delicious cupcake in her hands just as Jack rolled the roller back up the wall and turned to flash her one of those cocky smiles of his before returning his focus to the work he was doing.

"Why are you giving your room a make-over anyways?" Jack questioned, looking around in the empty bedroom with three and about a half out of four walls painted purple.

"What do you mean?" was Kim's reply.

Jack shrugged, "Let's be honest, Kim, your room like great before."

"It did, I admit, but I hadn't even been allowed to pick out my own bed," Kim let out a sigh of frustration. "We started renovating when I was eleven, or maybe I was ten, and my father's sister was helping us decorate, and well…"

"She made your room for you," Jack finished off for her.

She nodded, "Yeah, apparently eleven year olds don't have a say in what their room is supposed to look like."

"That sucks," Jack stated.

"Yeah," Kim agreed. "Although I love my aunt and she obviously has great taste, since the renovation, I've always felt so out of place in here, which I shouldn't."

Jack nodded his silent agreement as he bent down to apply more paint to his rolled so he could finish the rest of the wall – and that's when a brilliant idea popped into his head. Carefully eyeing his best friend who seemed to be totally lost in her own world, or with the cupcake, he bent down and applied some bright purple paint to his fingers.

A smirk appeared on his face, and as Kim stood up to grab another one of his cupcakes, walking with her back turned to him, he saw it as his chance.

"Kim?" he broke the silence in the room, and the blonde whipped around to face him the second she heard him speak.

"Yea-"

Her reply was cut off by Jack making a very unlikely move and plashed the paint he had on his fingers in Kim's face. It all happened in a split second; her cheek going purple, him laughing at her, her eyes narrowing dangerously, her plashing him back.

"Oh, really?" Jack exclaimed as his shirt received a purple stain.

Kim nodded, smirking at him, "Really."

"I'll make you regret that, Crawford!" he exclaimed just as she got his pants as well.

"Prove it, Brewer, and stop talking would you please," Kim stated, rolling her eyes at her best friend's idiocy.

And suddenly, you couldn't see that Kim's shirt was in fact white, the amount of paint Jack had thrown at it covered all of the white on the front completely. Kim shrieked as she felt the cold paint against her skin, and her coffee-brown orbs widened in surprise. She seemed to recover as she shot the brunet a deadly glare that would've made every normal person run away as fast as they possibly could – and Jack was not an exception, as he took off in a remarkable speed and dashed down the stairs.

"You're gonna regret this one, Brewer!" Kim called after him before she grabbed one of the unopened paint-cans and took off after him.

She checked both the kitchen and the living room, but there was no sign of Jack anywhere. She checked all of the bathrooms, her bedroom (just for good measure), James' bedroom and lastly her father's, and eventually she stood at the top of the stairs, still with no sign of Jack. She was just about to give up when she heard the front door slam shut, and Jack making his way around downstairs – acting quickly, she ducked back inside her bedroom and waited quietly by the door for his arrival.

"Kim?" Jack called out uncertainly, and Kim did her very best to open the can of paint without making any noise.

His footsteps started heading up the stairs, the blonde could clearly hear his vans against the staircase, thanks to how quiet it was.

"Kimberly Crawford?" came Jack's voice again.

His voice was so close to her that Kim nearly dropped the can of paint as she jumped in suprise, but thankfully it seemed as if he hadn't heard her, because he didn't barge in and smudge her entire face with purple paint. She mentally slapped herself for going with purple – it would've been so much more fun to see her best friend completely covered in hot pink paint from head to toe.

"Kim?" Jack tried one last time, and Kim rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Just as she was about to give up and drop the can of paint to the floor because it was too heavy to carry, she heard Jack staring to move towards her bedroom – and he was convinced she was outside somewhere looking for him, not standing right next to the door ready to drown him in paint. Which explains why the brunet let out a very girlish scream as he entered Kim's room and had a can full of purple paint dropped on his head – his hair, clothes, shoes and face got completely drenched and covered in purple.

And Kim burst out laughing at him.

"Did you just…?" was all Jack was able to get out.

Kim took a deep breath to stop laughing, but she wasn't quite able to remove the giant grin that had suddenly appeared on her face, "I did."

"I don't think I should move," Jack stated.

"Neither do I," Kim agreed with a nod. "I need to take a picture of this."

"No, Kim, what you need to do is to get a bucket of water," Jack demanded.

Kim's eyes widened in surprise, and she stifled a laugh, "You sure?"

"Well, I can't exactly walk to your bathroom like this, can I?" Jack rolled his eyes. "I don't want to ruin your house and having to pay for it later, so please get a bucket of water!"

"I can't dump water on you in my own freaking room, you moron, I'll completely ruin the floor!" Kim protested.

Jack crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, "Then what do you suggest I do?"

"Simple, just use my bathroom, right over there," she pointed a purple finger at the door in the end of the room with a smirk on her face.

A pair of chocolate-brown orbs widened in surprise and confusion, "You want to use your bathroom?"

Kim shrugged, as if she didn't really care – anything to save her house from getting overloaded with purple, right?

: : : : : : : : :

Jack exited the bathroom in a pair of clean pants, without paint, as well as a brand new t-shirt, both of which that Kim had snatched from her older brother's wardrobe, claiming him and Jack had about the same size, only James was a bit taller. A green towel was safely placed in his hands and he was trying – even though he knew it wouldn't help – to dry his wet and now brown hair.

Miraculously, all of the paint was gone, except the stains on his pants and shirt, which he would have to get his mother wash for him later, which meant coming up with an excuse as to why the stains were purple. He looked up to see his best friend dressed in a pair of clean sweatpants and a hoodie that most certainly didn't belong to her, and her purple-stained hair was put up in a messy-but-perfect bun – she held her hand out to him, and she was holding one of his cupcakes.

"Can we call it a truce?" she questioned, chuckling slightly. "I brought a peace-offering."

Jack narrowed his eyes at her, "Did you poison that?"

"Yeah, Jack, that exactly what I did, while you were in the bathroom I stuffed all of your cupcakes with deadly poison," Kim said, rolling her eyes.

Jack reached out and accepted the cupcake, still unsure about his friend's intentions. She had, after all, dumped an entire can of purple paint over his head, so he was no longer questioning her ability to harm him, or embarrass him. For all he knew, she could've stuffed the cupcake with poison, and he'd turn into some sort of male version of snow-white and drop dead on her bedroom floor – and all she would do was laugh, and then throw his dead body out of the window for someone to find him.

"On second thought," Jack muttered as he handed the cupcake back to Kim.

She shrugged and took a bite of it herself, and when her skin-color remained the same, her eyes stayed open, and she didn't fall down, Jack mentally kicked himself.

"Yo ana ea ouide a wat tha suset?" Kim questioned before swallowing. "Um, sorry, I meant to ask you if you wanna head outside and watch the sunset."

"How are we gonna-" Jack began, but was cut off as Kim grabbed his hand and started dragging him outside with her.

They dashed down the staircase and headed outside, and Kim raced towards the giant tree a couple of feet away from her bedroom-window, and Jack quietly followed, because well, he didn't really have much of a choice if he wanted to keep his left hand. As they reached the tree and Kim released his hand to start climbing, he shot her a look of disbelief – but all she did in response was to flash him a smile before she continued climbing up the giant tree.

Kim stopped halfway to the top to look down at Jack, "Are you coming or what?"

"I guess I'm coming," Jack stated before starting to climb up himself.

He was surprised by how easy it was to climb the ancient tree, it seemed to have been made for climbing, the way a branch suddenly appeared exactly where he needed them to be, and he always found a branch to grab a hold of – the tree seemed endlessly high, and Kim had suddenly disappeared from his sight. Jack continued to climb, refusing to look down, focusing only on grabbing a branch, pulling himself up, and placing his feet somewhere, and then do it again and again and again 'til he reached the top.

When he stopped to take a breath, his eyes found his best friend who had disappeared from his sight long ago – she was sitting on one of the bigger branches, completely unaware of his presence, looking only at the beautiful view in front of her. The view showed the city, first and foremost, and Jack was sure if he got to sit up properly and take a better look than he'd be able to locate both the dojo and the school. But the only thing he could actually make out clearly was the bright red sun, which had colored all of the clouds pink.

It had already made it halfway down behind the mountain so far away – a mountain which Kim claimed to have climbed to the top of, but Jack wasn't sure if he believed her on that one.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Kim spoke quietly; as if afraid she'd break the beautiful picture in front of them by talking.

Jack pulled himself up from the branch he was uncomfortably standing on and managed to take a seat next to Kim, only with a little branch in between them. He didn't answer her, mostly because the view from where he was now sitting had made him forget everything around him – it was just so unbelievably beautiful; the bright red sun shining over San Jose, and the pink clouds hanging in the air like they'd been placed there to complete the picture.

"Yeah, it most certainly is," Jack eventually answered.

Kim let out a dreamy sigh, "I haven't been up here in a very long time, you know."

Jack's eyebrows rose in curiosity, "Really, and why is that?"

"Firstly, I didn't think I was able to climb all the way up," she laughed. "But other than that, what I loved the most about this was sitting up here with my mother back when I was young enough to sit on one of the smaller branches, and well, sitting up here alone isn't the same in any way."

Jack nodded, "I get that, but why don't you just come up here with James or Mr. Crawford?"

"James used to come up here with me every now and then, but now I'm convinced he's forgotten it," Kim rolled her eyes. "My dad claims the tree will snap in two of he tries to climb up, but I know it's because he's scared he won't be able to take it, knowing it was me and my mother's thing, or that maybe he thinks he's not good enough."

"I'm sorry, Kim," Jack stated. "Wait, am I good enough? Or are you still missing _that_ feeling?"

Kim chuckled, "Nah, you're good, no worries."

"Good, because the last time you told me about this you said that just being with a loved one helped," Jack smirked. "Guess I'm a loved one, then."

Despite herself, and everything she believed in, Kim blushed slightly, "Well, you're my best friend, are you really that shocked?"

"Of course not," Jack admitted, but the smirk never left his face.

Kim rolled her eyes at him, noticing the smirk on his face, before she returned her attention to the breathtaking view. If Jack had done the same, instead of keeping his eyes on his best friend, then he would've missed the tears welling up in Kim's eyes, tears she refused to let fall, he noticed. He was sure talking about her mother is what had triggered it, and then the view and the tree – he was now certain the branch Kim was sitting on was the branch her mother had used to sit on all those years ago – had just made it even worse.

Although he admired her strength, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, which is why he grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze, and she responded to this by smiling at him.

"Thank you for today," Kim said. "And I'm sorry I ruined your super-star-hair."

Jack rolled his eyes, "No worries, I'll just drown it with hair-gel tomorrow."

"Oh lord, please don't!" Kim exclaimed in fake fear.

"If you give me a cupcake once we get down from here, then I'll leave the hair-gel alone," he suggested.

Kim narrowed her eyes at him, "I thought you believed I'd poisoned all of them?"

Jack merely shook his head in response, earning a smack in the back of his head, which made him almost lose his balance before he was able to steady himself again – and shoot a glare at the girl sitting next to him, who did her very best to look as innocent as possible.

"I just realized something," Jack spoke. "How on earth are we gonna get back down?"

"I don't know actually, but I guess we'll find out sooner or later, the worst that can happen is one of us breaking our neck, right?" Kim replied.

Jack's eyes widened in obvious fear, but all Kim did was burst out laughing at him.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's that, hope it wasn't too clichè for y'all ... and if it was, I think the next chapter will weigh up for it (yes, I've started on that already). Next update should be in anything from two weeks to about a month and a half, so enjoy the wait.**

**Reviews are greatly appriciated, you know (so are alerts and favorites).**


	6. 18 - 33 - 26

**A/N: Damn, it's been about three and a half weeks already, and I'm terribly sorry for taking so freaking long to update this story. And although I know it's not much, but I've been insanely busy, with two upcoming performances (dance and gymnastic) and exams (which is starting on monday) ... I barely have any time to write for you. But this is not the time to complain, now is it? - Nope, because I'd like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH to those of you who alerted, favorited and reviewed on the previous chapter, you brought a smile to my face!**

**Without furder ado, enjoy the long-awaited chapter!**

**DISCLAIMER: Oh, owning Kickin' It would make my life complete ... but it isn't complete, not at all.**

**(A little innocent 'Anderson' was changed to a 'Brewer' 27/12-2012)**

* * *

"Yo, what do I get if I can get a date with a cheerleader?" Jerry asked.

Jack hadn't really caught a single word of what his best friends were talking about, but judging by the way they all kept staring over at the popular table, they were most likely talking about girls.

Jack himself had never been less interested in girls than he was at the moment – it was honestly the last thing he wanted to think about. Somewhat because he was sure Jerry and Eddie had already claimed all of the cute ones, but mostly because of the fact that he hadn't really been himself ever since the argument he'd had with Kim several days back.

Why they'd started arguing was a total blur, but his own words definitely weren't – he'd screwed up, big time, no question about it. Kim had said some nasty things herself, but nothing close to the one thing he said, the one thing that accidentally slipped out of his mouth in the heat of the moment, the one thing that had caused his best friend to ignore him completely for the past days.

How she did it he would never know, especially considering the fact that they were partners in biology. But Kim Crawford hadn't said one word to him in days, and because of that he only had a lot more time regretting everything he'd done and said – he'd basically spent the last few days drowning himself in regret and self-pity.

He wanted to fix things between the two of them, but thanks to his pride, he'd just let it be.

"That depends, if it's Kim then it doesn't count," Eddie answered Jerry.

Jack registered one word, his best friend's name. At the sound of her name, he glanced over at the popular table where she was sitting with all of her cheerleader friends – laughing at some sort of joke Grace had told – while eating an apple.

He really wanted to get up and walk over to her, drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness – but it just wouldn't be right. First off, the cafeteria was full of people and it would be totally embarrassing.

"Okay, what about Grace?" Jerry interrupted Jack's train of thought.

Eddie nodded, "That'll do, yeah."

"And we'll both give you five bucks if you ask, and ten more if she says yes," Milton chimed in.

At that, Jerry immediately shot up from his seat and ran towards the popular table to try and ask Grace out, although everyone was sure he was already doomed – why would this time be any different from all the others?

The chance of Grace saying yes to go out with Jerry was small, almost as small as the chance of Kim talking to the brunet by the end of the day.

But Jack and Kim had fought several times before, and even when their fights got ugly they always managed to make up and go back to being best friends, all they had trouble with was the apologizing, because of their stinking pride.

It was like his mother always said; a good friendship – or relationship, for that matter – isn't a healthy one unless you argue from time to time. This was true, because everyone did need to argue with someone every now and then, at least if they were human.

"Jack, can I talk to you outside for a second?" Kim Crawford's stone-cold voice interrupted the brunet's wandering thoughts.

He jerked his head up at the mention of his name, coming from the voice that hadn't talked to him in days.

"Why can't you just tell me now?" Jack questioned. "It's just Milton and Eddie."

She rolled her eyes at him before she turned on her heel and headed out of the cafeteria without as much as a word.

Jack shot a look at the two guys sitting by the table with him, to find both of them nodding at him eagerly – they both knew just how badly Jack wanted to fix things with Kim, and they obviously didn't think that following her was a bad thing, so he decided to listen to them.

He grabbed a hold of his lunch tray covered with untouched food and got up from his seat. He heard Milton say something scarily similar to 'finally' and Eddie agreeing with something that sounded a lot like 'yeah, I don't like Jack when he's sad'. The brunet rolled his eyes at his best friends' words as he dumped his untouched food in the trash and put the tray in its place before he sprinted out the door; worried Kim had given up on him and left.

But just as the door closed behind him he noticed the blonde sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her legs, and her chin resting on her knees. The usual smile on her face was replaced with a frown, and a hint of tiredness.

She wasn't the same without that smile of hers, Jack noticed.

"What's up?" Jack asked casually, although his voice cracked at the end and he mentally punched himself in the gut for sounding so nervous, especially because it was just Kim.

Yes, they were in the middle of an argument, but they were still best friends.

"I have two questions," she stated flatly, sounding like she was discussing math with Mrs. Hawk, like she didn't really care if he heard her out or not.

Jack sighed in defeat, knowing he didn't have the right to complain about her attitude, he knew he should be thankful that she was even bothering to talk to him, even though it was most likely because she was desperate.

"The first?" He questioned suspiciously.

She rubbed her temples, "Do you still remember my combo?"

"Of course I do, why?" he answered immediately.

He kind of expected her to hit him or something, like she always did when he brought up the fact that he knew her locker combo. He'd found out by 'accident' one day when Kim was so beaten up after cheer-practice that she wasn't really herself, and he'd gotten her to admit a lot more than just her locker combo that day.

Later – it took a while before Kim realized he knew her combo – she'd complained to the principal about it, but he'd dismissed it saying it was good for her to have someone else remember her combo because she always came to his office claiming she'd forgotten it, and that Jack was her best friend so changing it wasn't really necessary.

Ever since, Kim had tried her very best to figure out Jack's combo, or cellphone passcode, but so far she'd yet to succeed.

"I forgot it … again," Kim admitted reluctantly.

Jack chuckled, "Of course you did."

"Don't," she warned.

"Don't what?" Jack asked curiously, his eyes wide in confusion.

The blonde groaned, "Don't be like that. I'm mad at you – really mad – and all I want from you is for you to open my locker so I can get my stuff and head home, I really don't need any stupid jokes about how forgetful I am."

"Okay…?" Jack statement-questioned, trying his best to hide how surprised he was by her words. "Wait, why are you heading home?"

"Geez, don't you ever pay attention?" Kim exclaimed angrily.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Pardon?"

"I'm not feeling well, you moron, didn't you notice how I completely passed out during English?" Kim explained, still with an angry ring in her tone of voice. "It's my best and favorite subject, so it should've made you suspicious, at the very _least_."

"Yeah, you're right, I should've noticed something was up with you," Jack agreed, wisely choosing – in fear of making his best friend even more angry – to leave out the 'I've just been trying to give you some space since you stopped talking to me'-part.

The brunet himself hadn't really been that concerned for her health, but when she didn't respond to his agreement by saying she was _always _right, he knew she wasn't feeling well at all.

"Let's just go to your locker," Jack suggested.

Kim had finally started talking to him again, there was no way he was letting this opportunity slide – the walk from the cafeteria to her locker was pretty long, meaning he had plenty of time coming up with an excellent excuse so she'd forgive him and the two of them could go back to normal.

He missed normal.

Walking home with her, having their biology-project blow up in their faces, cracking stupid jokes and making the other person laugh – but more than anything, Jack missed talking to Kim, just about anything, as long as they talked.

And he missed her smile when he cracked a joke or teased her about something.

He missed being best friends with her.

"Yeah, let's do," Kim agreed with a sigh.

Jack immediately reached out a hand for her to take, somewhat by habit and somewhat on reflex – maybe even somewhat because he was hoping she'd take it, because that meant she wasn't _that _mad at him.

Her response, however, was to shoot him one of her oh-so-famous death glares and smack his hand away with a lot more force than necessary before getting up to her feet by herself – never once breaking eye-contact.

"I'm not three years old, I'm perfectly capable of standing up on my own, thank you very much," she stated coldly before she took off to her right.

"Uh, Kim?" Jack called out after her.

Said girl turned around immediately at the mention of her name, still with a glare on her face, "What?"

Jack pointed in the opposite direction of the one Kim had taken off in, and he tried his best not to laugh, "Your locker is that way."

Kim looked utterly surprised, but tried her best to hide it with an eye-roll, "I knew that."

She then took off again – in the right direction this time – and Jack could clearly hear the sound of her shoes against the marble floor, as well as he could clearly see her retreating figure with a bouncing pony-tail at the back of her head.

She didn't even bother looking behind her to see if Jack was following or not, but he was. In fact, he was practically sprinting after her so that he could actually walk with her and not behind her. What was the point of going with her if he didn't get a chance to do what he'd missed the most these past days?

"Kim, would you slow down?" Jack called after a little while of chasing after her.

"NO!" She retorted.

"Why not? You said it yourself; you don't remember your combo, so there's no point in coming there before I do!" Jack exclaimed.

Although the brunet couldn't see Kim's face, he was totally sure she rolled her eyes, "That's not it, I really need to go to the bathroom!"

Jack stopped dead in his tracks and shot his friend a look full of disbelief, "Seriously?"

Kim couldn't help but laugh a little, "Seriously."

Without even bothering to wait for approval or an 'I'll just wait here', Kim raced into the bathroom.

Jack let out a frustrated sigh as he imagined Kim sneaking out of the one windows in the bathroom and run home without him because she couldn't stand hanging out with him after what he'd said to her. It didn't matter that it had been days since their argument, Jack realized, Kim really did have every right to be insanely mad at him – in fact, he was lucky she hadn't just snapped during class and started beating him up.

Therefore, he didn't do anything other than stand outside of the girls' bathroom and wait.

And just a few minutes later, much to Jack's relief, Kim reappeared in front of him, and thankfully for the brunet, her glare was now replaced with her every day smile he'd missed so much – although she didn't look the slightest bit happy.

The two of them started walking towards the blonde's locker in an awkward silence with a pretty giant gape between the two of them – it was so different from usual, when they would walk closer than they should while the talking just went by itself.

"So, how's the hand?" Jack asked coolly as the two of them rounded a corner.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Like you care."

"I do, actually," Jack stated. "So, I repeat, how's the hand?"

Kim's lousy excuse for a smile widened the slightest bit, "Good, thanks for asking."

Jack cast a quick glance at Kim's bandaged wrist, which she'd hurt during cheer practice as she fell down from whatever formation they'd been standing in. She was supposed to have had a doctor's appointment the day before, if Jack remembered correctly.

"What did the doctor say?" he decided to voice his thoughts out loud.

Her eyes widened slightly at his question, and Jack couldn't help but flash a smirk of satisfaction – she clearly hadn't expected him to remember her appointment.

"He said the sprain is healing pretty well, I should be able to practice with you again by Monday," She answered, but she sounded as if she was reading it from a rapport, not like she was excited to finally practice with Jack again.

"Cool," Jack muttered, not knowing what else to say.

Kim didn't bother to respond to his stupid attempt at continuing their boring conversation, and so the two of them yet again fell into silence.

"You know we have to turn in our English assignment tomorrow, right?" Jack tried again.

Their conversations were never boring – or desperate – enough to actually be discussing school, but Jack really didn't have anything else to talk to her about, since the last thing that had happened between them was an argument gone terribly wrong.

"Mhm," Kim answered absentmindedly, seeming to be totally lost in her own thoughts.

Jack let out a sigh of defeat as he realized that was the end of their conversation, because he was totally out of subjects to talk about. He couldn't talk to her about the things he usually talked to her to, which was things they'd experienced together – but the situation was different now, because they hadn't spent time together in days.

Then he went back to the plan he'd previously formed, trying his best to come up with an apology so that Kim would forgive him and everything would go back to normal.

The two of them kept walking next to each other in silence, Kim had a stern look on her face, looking both in deep thought and in deep frustration, whereas Jack was just staring at his best friend, admiring the beauty of her eyes.

He had never seemed to realize just how beautiful her eyes were.

Jack didn't like coffee – in the coffee's defense he'd only tried it once – but one look at Kim and he suddenly felt the urge to only drink coffee and nothing else 'til the day he died. She'd told him several times she found his eyes interesting, but to him it was the opposite, it was her eyes that were interesting.

Not necessarily because of the color, but more because of how much emotion those coffee brown orbs seemed to hold every single second of every day – Kim had always been the person to wear her heart on her sleeve, so the fact that her eyes were filled with tons emotions all at once wasn't that big of a surprise to Jack.

"Hey, Kim?" Jack spoke up, regretting his words the second they came out – he had no idea what to say to her, it was just in the heat of the moment.

"What, Jack?" Kim snapped at him, looking like he'd just interrupted something important going on in her head.

Jack sighed, "Actually, never mind."

"Okay," Kim rolled her eyes in obvious irritation. "Can I ask you a question now, or are you the only one allowed to bring the most random things to the table?"

Jack chuckled, "Of course not, fire away."

Kim gave him a slight nod as the two of them made a left turn, "Do you think oreos go well with peanut butter?"

Jack shot her a confused look, "Why would you ask me that?"

She shrugged, "Well, there's this movie – you probably haven't seen it, kind of a chick-flick – where the two main characters both like to eat oreos with peanut butter."

"Again, why would you ask me that?" Jack repeated, still with a confused look on his face.

"Uncomfortable silences make my thoughts more random than normal," Kim admitted with a nervous laugh. "Plus, I've always kinda wanted to try it, but I'm worried it'll just taste awful."

Jack laughed at her reply, which caused an unwilling smile to spread across the blonde's face. It was quite weird, how they both managed to bring a smile to the other person's face even when and/or if they were mad at one another.

"It doesn't sound good, that I admit, but you'll never know if it's good until you've tried it," Jack eventually responded.

Kim merely nodded sternly, unsure of what to say back.

"I presume it's my turn to bring up something totally random now?" Jack asked with a laugh after some short seconds of silence.

"Possibly," Kim shrugged. "But my locker is right over there."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise, "You've got to be kidding me, right?"

"Yup, and there's a pink elephant standing on your right," Kim rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not kidding, why would I?"

"Because you're you," Jack answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world – and it kind of was, which is why his comment brought an actual smile to the blonde's face.

Kim walked up to her locker, glaring at it with obvious anger – not remembering your own conversation and having to go to the only one who remembers it, who just so happens to be the best friend you're having an argument with wasn't exactly how she planned spending her lunch, which Jack totally understood.

"Alright, what's my combo?" Kim questioned.

Jack took a deep breath, "Before I tell you your combo, I'd like for you to hear me out, okay?"

"You're blackmailing me Brewer?" Kim exclaimed, clearly both surprised and amused.

He shrugged, "I don't really care what you call it, Crawford, all I know is that this is the only way I'll get you to listen to me."

Kim sighed in defeat, "Okay, fine, let's hear it."

"I'm really truly totally and unbelievably sorry, Kim," Jack burst out before he could even think about what he had planned to say to her during their walk to her locker, which now seemed much shorter than he remembered it as.

Kim didn't protest against his statement, thankfully, all she did was roll her eyes, showing she didn't believe him the slightest bit.

"To be honest with you, I don't even remember why we were arguing in the first place, but I guess that doesn't even begin to excuse what I said, I have no idea what got into me," He sighed. "No matter how pissed off I was, I shouldn't have said what I said, I feel so bad about it."

"I get it," Kim stopped him; worried he'd go on and on for hours about how he regretted his words.

"And I've missed being able to spend time with you these past days, I miss talking to you and walking home with you," He paused. "I just miss you, Kim."

At that, Kim couldn't help but smile, "That's sweet of you, Jack."

"So you forgive me?" Jack asked hopefully, not even bothering to hide his excitement.

Kim flashed him a completely fake grin that every pageant girl would be jealous of, "Nope."

"What?" Jack exclaimed.

"What's my combo again?" Kim asked, completely ignoring her best friend's outburst.

Jack sighed, "18 – 33 – 26."

"Thank you," Kim muttered absentmindedly as she opened her locker. "Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"

Jack didn't catch his friend's question, as he was completely lost in his thoughts. He could hardly believe it, but Kim hadn't accepted his apology, she hadn't forgiven him, even if he clearly said he regretted what he'd done. He expected her to forgive him, punch him and then hug him, but all he got was a devilish grin and a no.

He was shocked.

Kim took a sip of her water bottle, "Um, hello? Earth to Jack?"

"Huh?" Jack snapped out of his thoughts. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Mind doing me a favor?" Kim repeated her question. "Can you lock the dojo instead of me today?"

"Why?" Jack asked curiously.

"Because if I have to lock up then I have to wait for you guys, and you take forever in the bathroom, which sucks considering I'm just watching you practice and I'll end up missing the bus," Kim paused. "So, do you mind locking up for me today?"

Jack's face lit up, "No, but if you still won't forgive me then you're walking home."

Kim rolled her eyes, "You're actually forcing me to forgive you? Doesn't that make you feel the slightest bit bad?"

"Nope," Jack shook his head, not being able to remove the huge grin plastered on his face. "Forgiveness is forgiveness; I don't care what the reason for it is."

"Of course you would say that," Kim muttered as she slammed her locker shut with all her force, and then she surprised both herself and Jack by throwing her arms around his neck pulling him into a hug.

"I forgive you for being the jerk that you are, you idiot," she stated, her voice muffled against his shoulder, which she'd buried her face in.

Jack hugged her back immediately, as if on reflex, gently putting his arms around her waist pulling her closer, "I'm glad to hear so, Kimmy, and I'll definitely lock up for you tonight."

Kim smacked the back of his head at the use of her hated nickname, "I told you not to call me Kimmy, now you totally owe me."

Jack chuckled, "Owe you what, may I ask?"

"Lemme get back to you when I've come up with something," Kim answered dimissively.

* * *

**A/N: There yah go, hope you liked it. I think this one weighs up for the last chapter, which was pretty clichè. Only thing I don't like is my lame ending, but I've never been good with those. Don't hate me for making them mad at each other (well, mostly Kim), bestfriends do fight sometimes, right? Anyways, the next update will most definately be slow, because I have two important/big performances and three exams to focus on, and I just wanted to let you know that - so, don't expect a new chapter until at least three and a half weeks from now.**

**Reviews, alerts and favorites brings a smile to my face, just so you know.**

**- Brooke.**


	7. Pizza, housekeeping and sickness

**A/N: A month and one day, that's how long it's been since my last update. Not a very good thing, huh? - Either way, I do have a life and choose to prioritize school over FF, which I'm pretty glad I did. Not that you really care, but I did quite well on not only my tests but my presentations as well! Anyywaayyss, I do hope this chapter fits your standards and that you enjoy it considering it's the last chapter I'll post for this story this year ... Or maybe I'll be so kind and update for you during the holiday? - We'll see, I won't promise anything though.**

**DISCLAIMER: Me owning this is just as likely as me being Taylor Swift's little sister ... so yeah, pretty unlikely.**

**(Shocked myself the 27th of december 2012 by changing a total of nine 'Anderson's to 'Brewer's!)**

* * *

Kim Crawford had never felt this stressed in her entire fifteen years of living.

Her pony-tail was bouncing like it possessed a life of its own, her open jacket was being attacked by the wind, her cheeks were flushed in a way that made it look like she'd applied just a bit too much blush, and her brows were furrowed in a confused and worried manner – on top of everything, she was also rapidly typing a text to someone on the iPhone she held with a firm grip in her hands. Everyone she passed backed out of the way immediately, without her looking up from her phone to notice, because the locals knew not to mess with the blonde.

_Take care of him until I'm home from work, would you?_ Read the text she'd just received, and although it didn't mention any name or why she would have to take care of 'him', she already knew exactly what the text meant, and replied in haste as she continued on walking.

She could clearly hear het boots clicking against the pavement, but honestly couldn't care less.

_Great, Kim. I've tried calling him to let him know, but he's probably asleep since he won't answer. Don't bother him until he wakes up, okay? _Kim rolled her eyes at the text, although she couldn't help the smile that her lips formed as she re-read it – bothering would definitely happen, but who was bothering who was the real question.

Eventually she finished texting and stuffed her phone in the pocket of her beloved and well-used jeans and turned her focus to the road ahead of her, nearly bumping into a little kid who was probably also on his way home from school. She spotted a giant white mansion at the end of the street, and a smile graced her features – somehow, she managed to pick up her hasted pace even more without taking to running, and she was at the doorstep in front of the bright red door in a matter of seconds.

She checked the handle to see if the door was locked – which it was, and she groaned in response to the door refusing to open itself for her.

Knowing that ringing the doorbell wouldn't help with anything other than annoying the residents of the mansion, and so she stood on her tip-toes to grab the key resting on the door-frame. She fumbled around for a few seconds before she felt her fingers come in touch with the cold key, wrapping it in her hand she took it down from its place and unlocked the door in all her haste. Slamming the door shut behind her, she stepped into the hallway; she was greeted by herself in the mirror hanging above the dresser which contained hats, beanies, gloves and such.

She took off her own beanie – every girl hated how the wind during the fall ruined their hair, and despite being a black belt, Kim wasn't any different – and placed it on top of the dresser, unconsciously fixing her hair while looking in the mirror before proceeding to take of her jacket and hang it on a spare peg which the owners of the house saved for guests. Over the years, that peg had just become Kim's, considering she'd ones seen the owner family refusing their guests to hang their jackets there as it belonged to another family member who was currently out of the house.

This family had also once said Kim was welcome whenever, a promise she was planning on holding them to.

Lastly, she kicked off her pair of worn out boots – dark brown leather ones, her absolute favorite, given by her brother for her last birthday – before making her way to the kitchen. It was probably the most amazing and well taken care of kitchen she'd ever stepped a foot in, and she was convinced she didn't deserve to set her foot in it.

Although she couldn't cook to save her life, she was amazing when it came to sandwiches – especially grilled ones with plenty of cheese on them – and so she got some bread, cheese and loads of other supplies to make the grilled cheese sandwiches. She had made two of them in short minutes, and finished a third one in quite short time as well before putting them into the oven she'd turned on a while ago – then she opened the fridge to provide her dry throat with some apple-juice.

She poured herself a glass, and waited patiently for her sandwiches to finish – she was hungry, since she forgot to bring lunch money and never ate breakfast.

Hearing the timer for her sandwiches ring, she hurriedly but carefully took them out of the oven and placed them on a plate after she was positive the oven was turned off. She then took the plate with the sandwiches in one hand and her apple-juice in the other.

She turned the TV on, flipping through the channels while checking facebook on her phone – after what felt like hours of searching she found a pretty good episode of The Vampire Diaries which she'd seen far too many times, put her phone away and let her eyes rest on the giant screen in front of her while enjoying her masterpiece that was world's best grilled cheese sandwiches. So far, this whole taking care of another person-thing was going surprisingly well, and she prayed he'd stay asleep until his mother did get home from work so she wouldn't have to actually do anything.

The blonde knew he had chores which needed to be done for him, but if he stayed asleep she wouldn't have to do any of it because she hadn't been aware of what his stupid chores were.

Being as into the television show she'd obsessed with for years, she failed to hear the slow, heavy and quite noisy steps coming from the stairs, getting closer and closer to where she was sitting. Just as she reached for her glass – ready to take a sip and put it back on the coffee table – a surprised scream came from behind her, causing her to not only scream herself, but also jump about two feet and drop the glass to the floor so that it shattered into a million pieces and its contents spilled all over the wooden floor.

Never before had Kim been so grateful that the family didn't have a carpet in their living room, at least it wouldn't be too tough to clean up.

Nodding to herself as if to confirm it wouldn't be too hard to clean up the mess – risks for getting cut on the glass was not something she dared to include in that idea – she finally looked up at the person who'd caused her a lot more work than she'd been planning to do, and she was so surprised by what was in front of her that she took a step back.

Standing in front of her, looking like he'd seen a ghost, was her best friend – Jack Brewer. His hair had created a mind of its own, sticking out in every possible angle, and he was dressed in PJ's which looked like they could use a wash or two. His skin looked scarily pale, and so did the giant bags underneath his eyes; his usual glow was completely gone and his eyes held no spark whatsoever. His crooked smile didn't go well with the shocked expression he wore, and his slumped figure didn't go well with the whole black belt-thing at all.

Kim tried for a smile she hoped made her look innocent, "Hey Jack, what's up?"

"Don't bother playing the nice card, Kim," he rolled his eyes. "I already know how messed up I look."

"Yeah, and you don't sound too good either," she muttered, praying he hadn't heard.

It didn't seem like he had as he continued on his trip to the kitchen, getting a glass from the top shelf without struggling at all – whereas Kim had to almost jump to reach it – and then proceeding to fill it with water. Kim watched him silently, afraid to move or make any sound. She suddenly felt so out of place, which as weird considering Jack's house was like her second home, and she had felt at home before her scarily zombie-like best friend who she was supposed to take care of had walked in.

"Hey, what on earth are you doing up?" she called out to him as she realized the mistake in the picture in front of her. "I'm pretty damn sure your mom put you on bed-rest, and expects me to do the exact same thing, something I will do if you don't get back up and lay down."

"You don't wanna deal with a sick Jack, Kim," he warned.

She rolled her eyes, "I can manage, now get up, I'll bring you some juice."

"That was water my glass was filled with," he said before walking towards the staircase, earning a pleased smirk from the blonde because he'd listened to her.

"We both know you want me to bring you juice and not water!" she called out after him.

Kim didn't catch her best friend's response, if there even was one, but she couldn't care less. Taking a deep breath, she made her way to the kitchen without stepping on any glass shed and came back seconds later with a broom to sweep the floor clean of any glass sheds – it took her a while, considering she was being extra careful with getting every single piece without ruining anything or cutting her toes or fingers. She then proceeded to wipe the juice off the floor.

Lastly, she again got up on her tip-toes and jump slightly to reach yet another glass, which she also filled with apple juice, and then started making her way upstairs.

Just as she entered her best friend's room, a smile graced her beautiful face as she took in the sight of her sleepy best friend. She was positive he'd only stayed up for her sake – or maybe just the juice? – and this managed to make her smile widen. She noticed the piece of paper resting next to him on the comfortable looking bed covered in his mother's beautifully neat handwriting, and Kim wasted no time grabbing a hold of it to see what she would have to struggle doing for the rest of the day.

"Polish trophies, you really do that?" she questioned curiously, looking at her zombie-like best friend.

"Yeah, once a week," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes in response before handing him his glass of juice, which he accepted gratefully.

"Hey, can you fix my stupid pillow?" Jack spoke up after placing the glass on the nightstand. "It's all flat and uncomfortable."

Instead of snapping at him and telling him he was perfectly capable of doing it himself, Kim merely nodded and had him sit up before proceeding to shake his pillow to make it comfortable again and after short seconds she placed it back where it was supposed to be and ignored her best friend's lacking ability of a 'thank you' as she grabbed the cloth that Jack apparently used for polishing and began working. Her fingers wrapped around the first trophy they met with, and pulling it down she was surprised to see it was a soccer-trophy.

She wanted to ask about it, but decided not to considering Jack was sick and needed rest, no matter how annoying he was being.

Kim wondered if what she was feeling was what Jack usually felt, since 'the whole taking care of someone'-thing was his usual position, and Kim knew from experience how great he was at it. She wanted to at the very least pay him back for everything, and taking care of a sick Brewer seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Polishing was easy enough, she thought, if one didn't think about just how many trophies she had to polish, and how tiring it was for her hands and arms. Therefore, she almost found it as a relief when the next thing on the list proved to be something as simple as cleaning the living room – although she usually hated cleaning, the Brewers' residence seemed much more preferable than her bedroom.

"I'll be downstairs, Jack," she said, smiling. "Just yell if you need anything."

Without waiting for a reply, she made her way downstairs in a hurry and got the vacuum from its usual place so she could start her work. She'd only finished vacuuming underneath the dining table in the dining room as she heard her best friend calling for her like it was a matter of life and death. She sprinted upstairs to see what was wrong with her best friend, and was furious to know that he only wanted her to hand him his apple-juice filled glass because he was too lazy to reach it.

It wasn't any different the second time he called for her when she was busy scrubbing the floor clean – which was very well needed, by the way – and he wanted the karate magazine on his desk and a pair of socks because his feet were insanely cold.

The third time he called her she was close to punching him as he interrupted her making the soup he oh-so-desperately wanted – even though she had been smart and ordered pizza on her way to his 'house' which she wasn't allowed to refer to as a mansion – which caused her to having the soup in the microwave (only way she knew) for too long to be eaten, and all that because he wanted her to re-fix his pillow and get him a warmer comforter.

She could get the three first times, but the fourth time he called for her in under an hour she was convinced he was doing it for the pleasure of it – he was miserable, his looks matching, so why shouldn't she be too? – but either way she stopped watering every flower she could find and ran upstairs only to find that Jack wanted a re-fill of apple juice, which she used as long as possible to get ready for him; she even waited two seconds before moving up a step on the stairs.

When she returned to watering flowers she could admit that she hated Jack's usual position as the nice person who took care of others without even thinking about complaining – she started to believe his statement that she didn't want to deal with a sick Jack Brewer.

The fifth time he'd called for her was when she came back inside after taking out the trash – which, by the way, was a lot more at her own house, and Jack and his mother were only two people – and despite how tired and angry she was, she still made her way up the stairs to his room as fast as her feet would allow her, which wasn't very fast, and when she made her appearance known as she appeared in the doorframe she could only wonder what on earth he wanted her to do for him now.

"Look, I know how insanely stupid this sounds, but it hurts to walk," he sighed, looking uncomfortable. "Mind following me to the bathroom?"

Despite herself, her mouth flew open, and she failed to close it again, "Wh-what? Okay, why the hell did you give you mother my number instead of any of the guys' number?"

He tiredly rolled his eyes at her way too late outburst before trying his best to sit up in his position, "Kim, please?"

She let out a frustrated groan, but didn't bother to complain any longer – she wasn't going to get away with not helping him anyway, which is why she took a deep breath and helped her best friend to stand. When he felt he was balanced enough to move, she let him lean on her so that she was doing more than half the work as they slowly but surely made their way to the bathroom.

Finally outside the door, Jack turned to look at Kim, "Go finish whatever you have left on the list or something, I'll be fine."

She raised an eyebrow, showing she wasn't convinced, but after several 'please's she gave in and made her way back to his room to check that stupid list she hated more than anything.

Jack closed the bathroom door behind him a short while later, swaying slightly before beginning to walk back to his beloved bedroom and comfortable bed – however, he was surprised by the sight that met him when he eventually reached his room and leaned on the doorframe so that he wouldn't have to struggle with standing up; on his bed, without a comforter and with her head resting on the pillow she'd fixed for him at least two times since she got there earlier, was Kim Crawford.

Her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling in a calming pace, a distant smile spread across her face – she looked so at peace.

Jack smiled at the sleeping figure, "You know, I gave mom your number because I knew you would be the only one capable of nursing and taking are of an annoying and sick jerk like myself."

She cracked an eye open, "Your words, Brewer, not mine."

He rolled his eyes, although the smile never left his face, "I'll be on the couch downstairs if you need anything."

"Shouldn't I be the one taking care of you and sleeping uncomfortably so you'll be feeling okay?" she asked, now with her back turned on him.

The brunet shrugged, although his best friend couldn't see it, "It was, but now I'm taking back my usual position as the one taking care of you, if feels much more right than having you taking care of me like I'm a little five year old incapable of doing anything."

"Well, you are," she mumbled, chuckling. "But seriously though, thanks Jack."

"No Kim, thank you," was the last he said before making his way down the stairs rather slowly and unsteadily.

* * *

Hours later, a tall brunette entered the Brewer residence, talking on the phone with someone she seemed angry at while carrying a briefcase – she was dressed in a suit, with a lovely skirt no one would've worn any better. She slammed the door shut behind her with all her force before briefly and rudely hanging up on whoever she was talking to; she placed her phone on the plain white dresser in the hallway, next to a beanie she'd seen far too many times, before taking off her shoes and jacket and setting her briefcase down on the floor.

She walked directly to the beautiful kitchen – and she didn't fail to notice that the oven was practically sparkling, or that the bouquet of roses she'd gotten from her son a week ago for no particular reason had just been watered and had never looked more perfect – and grabbed an apple from the fridge (which had been reorganized, and that included throwing out everything old) before making her way to the living room where she'd heard kid's laughter coming from.

The sight that met this brunette was her son – sick, but better – and his best friend, both laughing hysterically at whatever sort of movie they were watching on TV. Jack had his head on a pillow in one end of the couch, and his feet on Kim's lap in the other end, and they both looked a good mixture of happy and exhausted. She also noticed the pizza on the coffee table, and the giant pieces of it which both teenagers were busy eating.

"Hey kids," Jack's mother greeted. "You feeling okay?"

Kim nodded, smiling warmly at the woman standing in front of her, "Sure, Ms. Brewer, neither of us are hungry anymore, and I think Jack can come to school tomorrow."

"Good to know," Ms. Brewer returned the blonde's smile before looking at her son. "May I ask what's happened to my house?"

"Kim's what happened," Jack answered, smirking. "Maybe I should get sick more often?"

Ms. Brewer nodded eagerly, "Oh definitely, same time next month?"

* * *

**A/N: First time I haven't hated my ending ... but I still don't like it, haha. Well, what do you think? Good? Bad? Funny? Depressing? Confusing? Terrible? Amazing? Something I could've done better? Favorite part? - All thoughts are welcome, you know, and it does encourage me to continue ... As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of splitting the next chapter in two parts, what do you say?  
**

**Favorites and alerts make me smile, and reviews make my entire day!**

**- Brooke.**


	8. Burns and cupcakes

**READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM, SUPER IMPORTANT!**

**A/N: Yay, an update! I don't have much to say, because this update isn't early but it's not late like usual either, so ... I'm lost. This is kinda fluff-ish, as it seems like Kim has a crush on Jack in certain places in the story, which I apologize for ... They don't have obvious crushes on each other yet, we have a long way to go before actual feelings show up, so yeah, sorry. Enjoy though!**

**DISCLAIMER: Question, do I look like Jim O'Doherty to you? - Yeah, didn't think so.**

* * *

Kim Crawford was seated on a bench in the dojo with her legs crossed and her beloved phone clutched tightly in her hands, trying her best not to take in the smell of sweat and the moldy mats she loved training on for some reason while she waited for a certain brunet to finish changing – sometimes she wished he didn't love his hair so much, it would've made waiting for him a whole lot easier and faster. She'd lost track of time, but she knew for a fact that she had been waiting for her best friend for quite a while by now.

Hadn't he been such a girl when it came to his hair – he was worse than herself – then it wouldn't have taken him forever in the boys' wardrobe because then all he would have to do was to take a shower and change his clothes and she wouldn't be sitting on the bench freezing because the duffle bag she'd stuffed in her locker had her jacket in it; the air-conditioning in the dojo was one thing, but the wind outside was something she wasn't sure she would deal with.

She was tempted to check the time on her phone again, or break a dummy by only punching it repeatedly, or maybe even yell at Jack to hurry up but she knew it wouldn't do her any good.

If she checked the time and found out just how long she'd been sitting in her position she would only get annoyed and impatient, and if she were to break a dummy her hands would feel insanely painful afterwards and Rudy would probably force her to pay for it this time, and if she yelled at Jack she would just mess up because he didn't even know she was waiting for him.

The blonde was so lost in her thoughts, eyes glued to the hole in the wall Jerry had made a while back, that she didn't notice the door to the boys' wardrobe open up and her best friend close it behind him before he looked at her as if she was a ghost.

"Kim?" he questioned, one eyebrow raised.

She jumped as his voice interrupted her train of thought and brought her back to reality, and she mentally slapped herself for not paying attention to the door that led to the one place in the dojo she'd never entered and never would, especially considering the only reason she was sitting there was because she was waiting for the door to finally open – and now she'd missed it and embarrassed herself.

Kim took a deep breath before she looked up at her best friend with a glare, "Don't scare me like that, Jack."

He rolled his eyes at her, "What are you still doing here?"

Kim shook her head in disbelief at his question, "Are you really that stupid?"

A shrug was the only response she got from him as he turned his back on her to stuff his own duffle bag in his own locker next to Jerry's, and she found herself annoyed by how careless he was being – she'd been there waiting for him since practice ended, that much was obvious, and there he was acting as if it was no big deal at all when she'd been dying of boredom and cold.

"I was waiting for you, obviously," she answered his question in a duh-like tone, hoping he would get that she was annoyed.

Instead of apologizing for not realizing that, Jack merely turned his head in her direction for a short second with his eyebrow raised – he obviously didn't believe her – before his attention was turned back to his locker and whatever that was inside of it.

Kim sighed; she herself wasn't exactly sure why she didn't give up on waiting for him when she realized it would take longer than she would've liked, she was only sure why she'd decided to wait in the first place, and that was because she needed her best friend's help with something. A part of her still wanted to lie and say she didn't want to walk home alone and forget about the decision she'd made when she was doing her hair after practice in the wardrobe but considering the worst that could happen was him saying no – and he wouldn't, because he was Jack Anderson – she didn't see the harm in it.

"Alright, mind telling me why you were waiting for me?" Jack asked as he fetched his hoodie from his locker and slammed it shut so hard the sound made Kim jump again.

Looking at the hoodie he held in his hands, she realized she should probably take that chance and get her own jacket, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to do so – she wasn't sure how to explain everything to Jack, especially when the answer he wanted was one she didn't have; even she didn't know why she'd decided to wait for exactly him and no one else.

"The cheer-squad's having a fundraiser tomorrow, and since I was absent at the meeting Grace decided to act nice for once and sign me up for stuff," she rolled her eyes at the thought of her co-captain. "And I found out today I'm performing this routine at the mall and making cupcakes for the sellers to sell at the bake-sale we're having."

It was obvious that Jack already knew the problem she was having but that he wanted her to say it for confirmation – anyone else who wasn't a close friend of Kim's wouldn't have realized what the problem was; she was a cheerleader, performing was what she did, and every single cheerleader on the planet had baked for a bake-sale before in their life. Once the brunet realized that his friend also needed confirmation to go on with her explanation, he gave a quick nod to show her he was listening, beckoning for her to continue on.

"And everyone knows that I can't bake or cook to save my life, unless it's sandwiches though, so I figured that maybe you could help me make some cupcakes," she finished off, smiling slightly.

Kim found herself feeling pleased with the way she'd explained it all, and she'd managed to do it quite well without even bringing up the fact that she had no idea why she wanted his help – all she could do then was to hope she'd put her little quest the right way and that Jack would at least feel a little bit flattered and say yes; in reality, he was actually the best cook/baker she knew, but since she didn't want his giant ego to blow up even more she decided to keep that one to herself.

Jack, however, wasn't perfectly pleased with Kim's explanation, because it hadn't actually answered his question about why she was waiting for him in the first place. Yet again he raised an eyebrow at his best friend, curious about her intention with the little baking-session she'd suggested.

"Why can't you just buy some at the store?" he asked.

Kim shrugged, "Home-made stuff always tastes better, you of all people should know that."

He chuckled slightly, knowing she was right, "And I still don't see why you were waiting for me."

Kim's eyebrows furrowed together at his statement, and she pursed her lips – Jack couldn't help but chuckle again at her funny thinking-expression. She didn't either see why she was waiting for him of all people, even though Eddie nor Milton could bake and Jerry was only good when it came to tacos, there were other people she could've asked for help. And the thing was she'd actually considered doing exactly that once or twice while waiting for him; just taking off and find some fellow cheerleader who could help her with the stupid cupcakes.

"Because I want you to help me?" she meant for it to come out like a statement, but the way her voice went a few vocals higher at the end of the sentence it sounded more like a question.

Jack cocked his head to the side, looking at her with a confused look, "Really?"

"Yes, really," She said, convincing not only him but herself too – it wasn't like she didn't want his help; she just didn't know why she wanted it.

Instead of agreeing like Kim had hoped he would – instead of just stopping with the whole interrogation – he narrowed his eyes at her to show that she didn't believe him, to show her that he suspected it to be some kind of a joke; like a pink elephant would fall from the ceiling any second.

She groaned in frustration at his disbelief in her, "Dude, can't you just help me, please?"

Jack laughed at her words – before Kim had never once used the word 'dude', she'd told him so, but Jerry had slowly but surely started to influence her like some sort of payback for all of the times she'd caused his eyes to widen in fear and to have him scream like a little girl; it was no secret that Jack found it hilarious when she used that particular word every now and then.

"C'mon Jack, pretty please? Do it for me?" Kim said, giving him her best 'puppy-dog-face' that everyone knew he couldn't resist even if he tried.

"Okay, okay, I'll help you with the cupcakes," he finally agreed.

Kim broke into a wide grin, "Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He laughed at her reaction to his simple agreement, "Why are you so happy about it anyways?"

"Um, no reason in particular," she tried, realizing just how stupid she sounded. "I mean, you're a much better cook or baker or whatever it is they call it than I am … if I would have to make those cupcakes by myself I would've burned down my own freaking house!"

Jack rolled his eyes, clearly not convinced with her stupid excuse – even if it was completely true, "Whatever, let's just go."

Kim looked outside worriedly, but then she nodded, "Yeah, let's go."

They both walked out the door, and Jack locked up – she didn't even think about questioning why on earth the brunet had a key to their dojo, frankly because she was too cold and tired to even take notice of it. The only thing she did take notice of was that it was weird to be one of the last to leave the dojo when she was always the first one out thanks to her long walk home; but she had to admit that walked home with Jack wasn't bad at all, it was really nice having a best friend to talk to, it seemed to make the long walk a little bit shorter.

Once they passed captain corndog, Jack shot a worried glance at Kim, "Aren't you cold?"

Kim looked down, slightly embarrassed than he'd noticed her discomfort, "Honestly, maybe a little bit."

Jack rolled his eyes at his best friend's stupid pride before taking off his hoodie and handing it to her, acting as if he couldn't hear any of her protests – eventually she gave up on trying to convince him to keep the jacket and she accepted it and put it on, and there was no denying that she felt a lot warmer the second the zipper was pulled all the way up.

"Thanks Jack, you're the best," Kim said with a smile.

"I know," he retorted as he returned his best friend's smile – his smile widening as Kim rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Home, sweet home," Kim muttered to herself as she walked up to the front door.

Jack took out the key from underneath the doormat and unlocked the front door while Kim was most likely texting her father to let him know she was home and everything was fine. Both the teenagers stepped inside the house as Kim put her phone back in the pocket of her jeans and closed the door behind them. While Jack sat down to untie the tricky knots he'd used to keep his shoes in place, Kim merely slipped her boots off and went off to who knows where – the brunet had a look of confusion plastered on his face as he looked up and couldn't find his best friend anywhere.

"Kim!" he called out.

"Kitchen!" she yelled back.

Jack jogged to the kitchen only to find the blonde who's disappeared on him putting out all of the ingredients they needed to make the cupcakes – for someone who didn't know anything about cooking, she seemed pretty confident in what ingredients they would be using. He walked up to her and leaned against the counter as he watched her retrieve the eggs and milk from the fridge, smiling brightly at her when she flashed her own smile at him.

Kim stepped aside and winked at Jack, "Alright, let's see what you got."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Hand me the eggs?"

Kim did – for once – as she was told and handed Jack the three eggs, making sure not to drop any of them to the floor because they didn't have any stand-ins – why her brother insisted on having scrambled eggs for lunch was something Kim realized she would never understand, but she was happy she didn't have to go to the store to get any more.

"You'll have to crack them," Jack stated.

"What?" Kim exclaimed.

She looked at Jack as if he'd told her to get to Paris on foot and carry the whole Eiffel tower back with her to him – some would say that was exaggerating, but both best friends knew that was exactly what Kim had thought he'd asked her; she was that bad of a baker.

"Kim, I can't do all the work, it's your fundraiser. Plus, this'll help your horrible baking-skills," Jack said matter-of-factly.

The blonde rolled her eyes, but gave in, "Fine, fine, I'll crack the stupid eggs."

She wasn't that bad, Jack noticed, even if he had to pick out some egg-shells when she was done. And that was how it went on: Jack asked for an ingredient, Kim gave it to him and Jack convinced Kim to do the work instead. And before they knew it, they had an almost-perfectly made cupcake-batter; Kim refused to call it perfect when she'd been the one making it and not him, who was actually good and had done something like it before.

"I think you should do the rest," Kim insisted as she backed away from the bowl full of batter, "I'll probably mess everything up anyway."

Jack chuckled, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, "Yeah, just learning how to make the batter is more than enough for me right now; next time I'll just give you a call when the batter is done."

The brunet laughed at how horrible his best friend thought of her baking-skills, "Alright then, I'll do the rest."

After the two trays were both put safely in the oven – Kim didn't even risk doing that, so Jack had put both trays in after a long argument – the two best friends found themselves in the blonde's kitchen without anything productive to do; cleaning was one thing, but neither were interested in doing that at all. Kim eventually decided to do something other than standing still and made herself a glass of water whereas Jack merely remained in spot, looking deep in thought.

"Alright, what are we gonna do while we wait?" the brunet eventually asked, breaking the silence between the two of them.

Kim took a sip of her water, "I don't know, you tell me."

"But it's your house," Jack argued.

"You're the one who's bored, not me," Kim countered.

"It's your fault I'm bored though, with your stupid cupcakes," Jack backfired.

Once again silence formed between them, and they found themselves having an intense glaring-competition that would've caused any other person to look away long ago – Jack's eyes were slightly narrowed, glaring knives at the girl in front of him who was glaring right back at him with a fire burning in her eyes.

Several minutes later Kim sighed in defeat, "Fine, let's go to the living room."

They ended up in the living room watching AFV on TV with a comfortable silence hanging over them – Kim admitted to not really being into watching how stupid people could get, but Jack watched every single second closely until the commercial-break would strike in and leave him bored once again.

Jack sighed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, "Jerry just texted me about the tournament this weekend. Are you going to that, Kim?"

It took a couple of seconds before Jack realized he hadn't received an answer. The brunet jerked his head in the direction of his best friend in pure concern, but the concern was completely washed away when he saw that Kim had simply fallen asleep. He couldn't help but laugh at how easy it was for her to fall asleep considering the TV had been on and he had been laughing at some kid who tried doing a stupid stunt that failed completely – but then again, Kim hadn't been in top shape during practice, and neither had she looked fully awake after the journalism-meeting during after school that she'd explained using the word 'horrible' before explaining to Jack that she had never discussed so many topics for so long before in her life.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing.

He pressed answer and put the phone to his ear, "Hey, mom, what's up?"

Kim shifted in her position, her feet gaining a life of their own as they decided to rest on Jack's lap – Jack looked down at the beautiful blonde and smiled.

"No, mom, I'm still here," Jack said as he tore his eyes away from Kim's sleeping form.

Jack was then fully engaged in the conversation with his mother as he hadn't seen her for days; she was on a business-trip, and Kim was still fast asleep – it didn't exactly help the two teens that the oven in the kitchen was too well used and needed to be replaced, and so when the timer rang it wasn't loud enough to drown the noise of Jack's voice, the people on TV and Kim's light snoring. It only took about a minute before the entire house smelt of burned cupcakes, but as the blonde slept and the brunet had gone off to the world of angry birds after finishing up the conversation with his mother neither of them noticed that either.

Kim stirred before her eyes fluttered open; the smell was too much to handle, even when she was asleep, "Jack, what's that smell?"

"Hmm?"

"Jack, the cupcakes!" Kim yelled with wide eyes, suddenly fully awake.

"Hmm?"

Kim rolled her eyes at her best friend's obliviousness and obvious addiction to the silly game before pushing herself up from the couch, knocking the remote to the floor in the process; she couldn't have cared less though, she let the stupid remote be as she ran as fast as she could to the kitchen, fully prepared to save her house for burning to the ground, and that's why she didn't really think much of it as she opened the oven and reached out for one of the trays covered with cupcakes.

"OWW!" she screamed just seconds later, clutching her left hand in pain.

"Kim, are you okay?" Jack yelled as he too came running in.

"Yeah, I just burned my freaking hand, nothing to worry about," Kim retorted sarcastically.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Shut up and hold your hand under the sink or something."

Kim sighed overdramatically, but she did as she was told while Jack got the cupcakes out of the oven – with oven-mitts on, of course – and opened the front door to get rid of some of the smoke. Kim found herself thanking the makers of angry birds for making the game hard enough that her friend never made it past level 21 and always ended up with a game over; hadn't it been for that, her kitchen would've burned down before he noticed anything and her hand would've fallen off.

"Kim, are you okay?" Jack asked after everything had finally calmed down.

Kim rolled her eyes, "Stop asking me that."

"I'll stop asking when you start answering," he retorted.

"Yes, I'm okay," Kim lied, in hopes of Jack dropping the subject about her stupidity.

Once again an unconvinced eyebrow was raised at the blonde, and Kim groaned in frustration for him not believing her this time either. The last times she was able to find a way around the actual problem for him being so judgmental about her lying to him, but it was harder this time considering her hand was wrapped up in a bandage Jack had insisted on putting on for her and she could still feel her skin burning as it came in contact with the tray.

"Fine, I'm not okay, it hurts like hell," Kim admitted at last.

The blonde groaned again when Jack only chuckled in response, clearly pleased with himself for finally getting an honest answer out of her after having tried for at least fifteen times – they both glanced over at the two trays of burned cupcakes as they fell into silence.

Kim sighed, "You know what?"

"What?"

"I'll just buy some cupcakes at the store later today."

* * *

**A/N: ... Yeah, horrible ending, just like always. Don't say I didn't warn you about the damn fluff, though. Again, I'm lost, so ... eh, review? Or you can just favorite and/or alert, that's nice too. **

**Can I ask you a question? That was not the question, btw. My question is: completely unrelated to the next couple of chapters, who would you like to fall in love first? - Don't compare anything to the show, this is all about what you think/want and my story, 'kay?**

**- Brooke.**


	9. Violent silence (literally)

**A/N: I'm sorry. No excuses. I simply ran out of ideas and lost motivation to write. Somewhere in there this little thingy came up, and since I actually managed to finish it I figured I should take the risk and post it; I kinda owe it to you. Don't know if it's any good, it was more or less based on the troubles I had with my voice during the break .. I'm just getting back into this, I haven't written in forever, so be patient with me. **

**Hope you like it, though!**

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Kickin' It, my break wouldn't have been a break .. however, I'm lucky enough to own one Cole Harper :)**

* * *

The thing about people is that no matter how alike they may be, they think differently – they handle things differently and have different reactions to things. Now let's say a certain Kim Crawford had went out with Grace to this pizza place and hadn't bothered putting on a scarf or a thicker jacket because she didn't think they'd be out that long. And let's say that when she came home much later than expected she kept persisting she was fine, but when she woke up in the morning it turned out she was anything but; Kim Crawford had, literally, lost the ability to speak.

And let's say she didn't want to go to school the next day because she didn't see the point of it, but in the end her father managed to change her mind and she left for Jack's. Jack and Kim were known all around as best friends – who had a crush on each other but wouldn't admit it to themselves – so it didn't take long for Jack to realize there was something wrong. Kim was also known for her temper, so when Jack kept bugging her about what was wrong she eventually just snapped; opened her mouth ready to scream at him to shut the hell up, but of course not a single sound came out.

When discovering this, Kim angrily stomped her foot like a five year old whereas Jack burst out laughing and didn't stop until his pissed off best friend kicked him in the stomach. Kim Crawford not talking was like the earth not spinning, and although Jack didn't seem to mind the short stand still Kim wanted the earth to continue spinning just like always. Jack kept saying he was going to have the time of his life because of his voiceless best friend, and all she ever did in response was roll her eyes.

If she'd known how serious he'd been when saying that, though, she might've considered doing more than just throwing in an eye-roll. It started off small, like him starting conversations and then continue talking as if she'd answered him – which was annoying, but not _that_ annoying. No, the real annoying thing happened when they were heading to their first period and Kim tried to get away when she realized Grace was approaching them and not just heading to her first class; Jack wouldn't let her run away.

"You'll be late for class if you bail," he threatened when she pulled so hard his arm was close to fall off just to get out of his grip.

She glared.

"Relax, I got this," He assured her. "Hey Grace."

The brunette smiled one of her more flirty smiles, "Hey Jack … and Kim."

Since Kim couldn't say hi back, the blonde settled for sending her on-and-off best friend a smile.

"Look, I came to get your opinion on the draft I'm making for our new uniforms," Grace explained hurriedly. "How would you feel about adding some pink to the mix?"

Jack looked back at Kim, smirking and Kim stared back, glaring – Kim hated pink more than she hated fish and the Black Dragons, and Jack was well aware of that fact. The real question was if he was actually going to lie and ruin cheerleading for Kim for the rest of High School by approving the pink, because he had said he was going to have some fun with Kim's day of silence. Grace looked between the two, completely confused as to why the two best friends had suddenly entered a glaring-contest when all she'd asked about was uniforms for cheer.

"She'd love it," Jack suddenly said, refusing to break eye-contact with the blonde. "Told me about it the other day, how she hoped you'd suggest pink."

Grace looked surprised, but pleased, "Wow, okay then, thanks."

The brunette sent a small smile at her on-and-off best friend before she took off to her first class, ready to get away from the tension going on between those two. Jack and Kim stood in place for a total of three seconds after Grace left before Jack started running for his life – Kim followed close behind, ready to actually rip off his arm for what he'd just done. They passed Jerry trying to flirt with Kelsey by some lockers, Milton and Eddie on their way to bio and several other students and situations before Jack finally reached the classroom they were heading to across the school. He threw the door open and came sprinting in, completely ignoring all the weird looks his fellow students sent him as he pushed past all of the desks to get to his seat by the window in the back.

Mr. Tanner glared at the exhausted brunet sitting in the back of the classroom, "Jack, could you please explain-"

No one ever heard the end of that sentence, because at that exact second a certain blonde repeated Jack's actions and threw the door open as she came rushing in. Instead of continue running to her seat behind Jack, however, she came to a stop in the doorway because everyone had turned to look at her thanks to her loud entrance. Sending an apologetic look towards her favorite teacher, Kim made her way to her seat in the back by the window behind the brunet she would be happier to see if he was missing an arm.

The classroom remained silent while Kim started taking out her textbook and tapped Jack on the back as her silent way of asking for a pencil. A few other people came rushing in less noisily than Jack and Kim had done and when the bell rung and that kid who was always late hadn't arrived yet Mr. Tanner got someone to close the door before he started his lesson. Jack noticed how Kim was taking notes and stuff while the teacher was talking, and he silently wondered what she was going to do when questions were asked; especially since English was her best subject and she was known for raising her hand in that particular class.

"In this book, the girl refuses to give the bloke her name," Mr. Tanner explained (originally British, by the way). "And we all know Shakespeare said 'what's in a name', right?"

"Right," the class agreed lazily.

Mr. Tanner rolled his eyes, "Can anyone try and explain what Shakespeare meant by that?"

Without as much as a word, Jack turned around and grabbed a hold of Kim's notes before raising his hand prepared to answer Mr. Tanner's question on Kim's behalf – meaning he was going to ruin it for her again. The blonde kept kicking his chair from behind while occasionally trying to get her notes back without it being so obvious everyone would start staring at them again. She thought she was safe when Mr. Tanner let this girl answer his question, but her bubble of safe was gone the second he called Jack's name; apparently he wanted to hear more than one opinion on the subject.

"Okay, I don't know the answer to your question, Mr. Tanner," Jack admitted. "But Kim here does."

"Then why did you raise your hand?" The teacher demanded to know.

Jack merely shrugged, "Kim's lost her voice, and I'm kind of her speaker today, so if I could just read her answer…"

"Very well Jack, go on and read Kim's answer," Tanner agreed once the situation was explained.

Jack quickly scanned her notes to see which part would be the most wrong to read out loud, but quickly discovered that everything she'd written made absolute and perfect sense – god, no wonder English was her best subject. He could read any sentence she'd written on that paper, and she'd still get a golden star from her favorite teacher because it was her best subject and she never got anything wrong in English. When he realized everyone was waiting for him to read Kim's answer, he realized that he would either have to give her the golden star she always got or make up something stupid real quick; he didn't think Kim would be too surprised if he went with the last one, so he did.

"Right, reading," he began uncertainly. "Tony's Pizza, Tuesdays, wear yellow … wait, what?"

Yet again, every single head in the room turned to look at Kim – a certain raven-haired dude, Cole Harper to be more exact, in their class just so happened to blush a deep pink at Kim's words which were actually Jack's words. Jack had been partners with Cole in home ec. a while back, and since they both had a mutual interest in skating they had arranged skating-meetings once a month or so ever since they failed miserably on a project (apparently pancakes didn't count as dinner). They weren't exactly close, Cole and Jack, but they were close enough for Jack to know that he worked at Tony's Pizza on Tuesdays as a cleaning boy and that his favorite color was yellow.

Since Kim couldn't deny that she had a crush on Cole Harper – whom she'd never actually talked to before – she buried her face in her hands and prayed that everyone would look away again. Someone were laughing quietly thinking she didn't hear them while others were looking at her like she'd grown a second head; one guess as to which group Jack belonged to. Luckily Mr. Tanner was all for fairness in the world, so he eventually called the thing off by telling everybody to keep quiet and demanding that Jack give Kim her notes back.

The ice cold glare Kim sent Jack when he turned around with her notes was almost scary enough to have the world start spinning again even without sound, but Jack knew Kim too well to be frightened by it. He merely dropped her notes on her desk and grinned at her before turning back around ready for their lesson to continue. He knew he should feel bad, but the opportunity to humiliate Kim without her being able to do anything about it was too good for him to pass up.

Kim, however, didn't see what Jack was doing as a good opportunity at all – he was seriously lucky they were at school because then she couldn't beat the crap out of him without landing herself in detention. Fortunately for her Mr. Tanner didn't ask more questions throughout the lesson, and the last twenty minutes were used to continue reading the book they all had had handed out, even though Kim herself finished it ages ago.

When the bell rang at the end of class, Kim was the first one out of the room; she packed up faster than any other human being and left the room at top speed with a laughing Jack following behind. He went straight for her locker, because anyone knowing her would know that she preferred having a stuffed locker as supposed to a stuffed book bag. She was easy to spot where she was standing on her tip toes as she put in her combination, and Jack was happy to see Milton had gotten his text – the smart one out of the five Wasabi Warriors was standing next to Kim with a small smile on his face while telling her about something, and Jack wondered if Milton had even mentioned the reason he'd come to find Kim in the first place.

"Hey guys," Jack greeted, casting an uncertain glance in Kim's direction.

Kim exchanged a small smile with Milton before she turned to glare at Jack, who stared back with fake surprise. When he didn't bother to explain why Milton had come to see her at her locker, Kim rolled her eyes as a replacement to one of her usual sarcastic comments before she smacked the back of Jack's head instead of calling him stupid like she would've if she could talk. Jack finally gave up the act and glared at his best friend as to demand what she wanted from him while rubbing the back of his head, and Kim responded by pointing her finger at Milton with annoyance clear in her features.

"Oh right," Milton began answering, much to Jack's relief. "Jack told me about your, uh … situation … and he wanted to know if I could be your right hand throughout math."

In response to his explanation, Kim shot Milton a thankful smile before turning back to face Jack with a raised eyebrow and her hand more than ready to hit him again if needed to. When Jack merely shrugged because he didn't know what to say Kim raised her hand again, but Jack caught her wrist and lowered her hand without letting go long before her fist came in contact with his face.

"You should be thanking me, not hitting me," he stated. "And in case you're wondering, Milton's not in on my plan to socially ruin you or whatever it is you think I'm doing."

As a response – since she couldn't really do much else – Kim glared at her best friend before turning to her other best friend with a pleading look. None of the two guys had any idea how hard it was not being able to speak even if you wanted to, but Milton was the only one smart enough to possibly come up with something that could help her situation at least a little bit. She would've sent a pleading look in Jack's direction too, just to get him to release her wrist from his tight grip, but since he had admitted to having a plan to ruin her life she decided not to; it wouldn't do her anything good in the end.

Milton's face suddenly brightened as his gears stopped turning, "I think I might have a notepad you can borrow, Kim … just hold on a sec."

The redhead took off his book bag and set it to the floor as he started searching it for the notepad he was talking about, and both Kim and Jack silently wished he too was more of a stuffed locker person. Meanwhile Kim tried her best to break free from Jack's grip while at the same time avoiding eye-contact, which managed to keep the pair busy enough not to notice the nerdy kid approaching their little group. Milton looked up just in time to see who the guy was, and he greeted him with a short 'Hey, Emmitt' before he went back to his book bag.

Jack looked up at the mention of the name, and saw that the guy who had just passed their show in the hallway on his way to his next class was in fact the gamer Jack had only really seen and talked to once. As he vaguely remembered the conversation he'd had with the nerd of a gamer the most brilliant idea to bother Kim a bit more popped up into his head, and the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"Hey, wait … Emmitt, was it?" Jack called out after the guy, ignoring the weird look Kim sent him.

The kid turned on his heel, but didn't walk towards them, "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" Jack questioned. "Oh, I'm Jack, by the way."

He could've sworn he heard Milton's friend mutter something that sounded a lot like 'of course you are' before he made his way back to their group of three. Emmitt smiled at Kim as a greeting when he reached them, and Kim shot an uncertain smile back at him – she had no idea what Jack was planning to do, but she knew it would be bad and that she needed to be careful and listen close. When the silence eventually became too much, Emmitt rolled his eyes (which impressed Kim, considering he was a nerd and they were super nice and all that) and turned to look at Jack with a curious look.

"You were saying?" he asked.

Jack shook his head, smiling faintly, "Right, you know Kim, don't you?"

Emmitt shrugged, smiling at Kim again, "Well, I know of her, if that's what you mean."

"Yeah, that works too," Jack concluded. "You see, she's lost her voice and stuff, and there was something she was planning on asking you tod-aaaaaay."

Kim stepped on Jack's foot at the end there, not really wanting him to 'be nice and ask the question for her since she couldn't speak' when she was positive she wouldn't agree with the question. Best case scenario would be Jack asking to borrow his homework for French because she hadn't done hers; worst case scenario would be him making up a story of a crush that didn't exist and then ask Emmitt out on her behalf. Since even the best case scenario wasn't too good, Kim could only hope Jack wasn't smart enough to figure out the worst one.

"She needs a French tutor, you see, but she won't admit it because she's _really_ stubborn," Jack explained, throwing in a glare in Kim's direction.

Emmitt pushed his glasses up as he eyed Jack uncertainly, "And she wanted to ask me for help?"

"Exactly!" Jack exclaimed. "She's only free on Fridays though, and whenever we study we always go to Circus Burger."

"Alright then, I'll see you at Circus Burger on Friday, Kim … au revoir!" Emmitt concluded.

A silence fell when Emmitt gave them his goodbyes and then continued on his walk to wherever and whatever his next class was. Kim couldn't believe the fact that Jack had also figured out the worst case scenario, but he'd covered it up so that it didn't seem like a date – but if you took the school-part out of it, you'd be left with a Friday night at Circus Burger. The actual worst part though, which Jack must've counted on already, was that even though Kim was doing better than fine in French she wouldn't be able to stand the poor kid up.

After having processed the fact that she was going on a covered up date with a friend of Milton's thanks to her best friend, the blonde turned to yet again glare knives at Jack. She found him already staring at her, and for the first time that day he actually looked worried about her reaction to his little prank on her.

Jack was already trying to picture what the rest of his life would be like with only one arm when Kim smirked at him; that simple gesture made him wished he'd prepared his grave before he went to school that day. Kim was more than ready to finally tell Jack what she thought of him having all that fun on her expense – she opened her mouth, not caring that her throat was burning, fully ready to-

"Use the notepad, Kim, use the notepad," Milton perked up, passing her the notepad he'd found a little too late.

Kim jerked her head up at the sound of Milton's voice and looked at him with a confused look before looking at the notepad and then back at Milton again – her smirk suddenly widened. Before anyone actually had a chance to realize what she was about to do, Kim had grabbed the notepad and hit Jack with it four or five times with all the strength she had. When they did figure out Jack repeated his previous actions and grabbed a hold of Kim's wrist, glaring daggers at her smirking face; then the most uncomfortable silence ever followed.

Milton sighed, once again breaking the silence, "Well Jack, it's not like you didn't deserve it."

**: : : :**

Friday afternoon the same week, Jack was on his way to Circus Burger – Kim had texted him saying she needed to get away and that he definitely owed her one, therefore he could drop whatever he was doing and come get her. He hadn't been able to stop teasing Kim about her upcoming date for the rest of the week, so when he got the text in the middle of dinner he knew that she was right and that he wouldn't even finish eating; which he didn't.

He could see the back of Emmitt's head from where he was standing, and he could also so see the laughing face of his best friend – he secretly wondered what Emmitt could've said to make her laugh, but he shrugged the thought off as he entered the place. Looking around, he realized how packed the place was on Friday nights, and he regretted not suggesting Falafel Phil's for Kim's 'study session' with Emmitt. Heck, he was about to turn on his heel and leave Kim there by herself when he heard Emmitt call his name, making sure there was no way back; so he unwillingly approached their table by the window.

He was surprised that there were no books to be seen in miles reach, and that they were both busy eating a hamburger along with salad and fries – did Kim actually strip it of the school-part and agree to go on a date with a friend of Milton's? – but either way he greeted them both and stood leaning over their table waiting for Kim to get her words of escape right.

"Well Emmitt, now that Jack's here I better take off," Kim began, standing up and putting on her jacket.

Emmitt nodded his agreement, "Sounds good, I'm glad you didn't mind staying … uh, Jack, you can sit down now."

Jack's eyebrows furrowed together as he eyed the two, "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, don't worry Jack, it's all cleared out now," Kim explained with a smile. "I told Emmitt the whole thing, called it as the hoax it was."

Since he still didn't understand a thing, Jack yet again asked what they were going on about – the answer he got was probably the last thing he wanted to hear. Kim had told Emmitt that in reality Jack was the one struggling with French, which was true, and that he was the stubborn one who wanted Emmitt to tutor him but he'd chickened out last minute; which was the untrue part. Apparently her and Emmitt had come to the agreement that she would stay with him until Jack showed, and then she would leave them for the actual study part of the study-session.

Unwillingly, because there really wasn't anything else to do, Jack sat down in Kim's previous seat and watched with horror as Emmitt picked up a book bag from the floor and started unloading anything from books to those small cards with tough questions on them. Jack could clearly hear Milton's voice in the back of his head telling him he deserved it, but he would've preferred a few punches from Kim as supposed to hours of French with one of the biggest nerds at Seaford.

"Well, I'll be going then," Kim said. "Oh and Jack, if your scarfs and winter-jackets are missing when you get home, don't panic … I'm planning actual revenge when the winter comes."

* * *

**A/N: Iknow, the ending sucks bricks .. but you can't say I didn't warn you (the 'be patient'-part at the top, in case you missed it). You should be pleased to know I'm sort of working on the next chapter, but please don't expect anything in case I disappoint!**

**Question: Sp, how was my comeback?**

**- Brooke.**


	10. One-time thing

**A/N: Heey everyone! I don't know what to say ... Late May and early June is seriously one of the busiest times of the year, with more birthdays than I can count (including my own) and finals and everything. Then there's my annoying routine with this site and new chapters; day 1 I finish it, day 2 it's uploaded to FF and I write my A/N's, day 3 I read over everything and make sure it's good, day 4 I build up courage half of the day before a new chapter is published ... and I can't help it. **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kickin' It, Diamonds, Rihanna or anything else than isn't the plot ... but you already knew that.**

* * *

"This is impossible!" Kim complained, glaring coldly at her reflection.

"Mhm," came the response from her best friend across her bedroom.

Kim rolled her eyes at that – it was like they were in two completely different worlds, even though they were obviously in the same room. Jack was seated on her bed with her computer in front of him, typing furiously with his eyes never leaving the screen. She didn't feel sorry for him at all, he should've known that would happen if he were to postpone writing that essay for honors English. In her world across the room where her mirror and closet were, she was trying on outfits for her dad's celebration dinner.

Jack probably hadn't paid her any attention when she told him that her dad had gotten a promotion and was now a part of the board along with every other snob in the company, and that he'd asked her to be his plus one for the celebration dinner. It wouldn't surprise her if he suddenly looked up from the screen only to ask her what on earth she was doing and how all of those clothes ended up on her 'used to be clean'-floor.

Looking back at the mirror made her wonder why she hadn't thrown that dress away yet, even though it would piss Grace off. It was light green and strapless, three inches shorter than she would've liked and had the most ballerina-like skirt she'd ever seen. Even though it was more than obvious the dress should be hanging in a certain brunette's closet, it was the exact same brunette who'd given it to Kim as a Christmas-gift the year before.

"God, nothing's right with this thing!" she complained again when she couldn't manage to unzip it.

Jack didn't move anything other than his fingers when he answered, "Mhm."

She was just about to tell him to shut the hell up when the zipper gave in and she hurried back into her walk-in closet to look for something else to wear to that stupid dinner. Catching sight of the skirt Jack had been forced to buy her a while back because he lost a bet with her – she had never had a problem boardsliding – she quickly grabbed it and held it up in front of her face. Deciding that the skirt was just like the guy who'd bought it for her, good for nothing, she chucked it at his head before ducking back into her closet.

"What on earth?" Jack questioned as he removed the black piece of clothing from his head.

Kim chuckled, "Don't you mean skirt?"

"Very funny, Kim," Jack replied flatly. "What happened in here anyway?"

"I did," she responded lazily as she pulled on an oversized t-shirt.

She was surprised he didn't start typing again, obviously waiting for further explanation regarding the bomb that had exploded in her closet without him hearing. As she looked for the jeans she'd been wearing for school that day – or her favorite pink sweatpants – she started re-explaining everything regarding her dad's promotion. Jack laughed at her when she declared she'd be arriving in what she was wearing at the moment, and the laughing continued when she emerged from her closet in a Hello Kitty t-shirt and her pink sweatpants.

Sighing, the blonde walked over to her bed with her typing best friend on it and plopped down next to him. He smiled amusedly at her, but she just rolled her eyes in response before shifting to look at her ceiling. She felt kind of bad for not helping him with his essay like she'd promised, which is why she decided to leave the thoughts of dresses alone for a while and snatch her computer from Jack's lap. He started to object, but immediately stopped when she held up a hand and whispered 'shh, I'm reading' – instead of calling her whatever he was supposed to, he merely thanked her before copying her previous actions and laying down on his back so he could have a staring-contest with her ceiling.

Just like Kim got bored once Jack started typing for real, Jack got bored once his best friend lost himself in his essay – he watched her coffee-brown eyes move at top speed along with the lines he'd written, filled with surprise, confusion and a small amount of proud as she went on. Eyeing the many dresses thrown out across her bedroom floor, Jack wondered what was so wrong with them all; except the strapless green one, that didn't look like anything Kim would wear.

"These dresses are beautiful, Kim," He stated.

Kim rolled her eyes, "They're okay … and I look horrible in them."

He caught sight of the yellow dress she'd worn after she'd officially been crowned Pearl of Seaford – it rested next to the skirt he'd been forced to buy her when he made the mistake of thinking she didn't do boardsliding. There were also the many dresses she'd dressed in to impress everything from a sleazebag celebrity to a black dragon to be to a prince; just because she'd worn them for the wrong guys, that didn't make the dresses any less beautiful.

"You're insane," Jack concluded. "But if they're all so horrible on you, why don't you just buy the blue one at the Cute Store you showed me last week?"

"Cause my allowance aren't given to me until two weeks from now," she sighed. "What are you doing later, Jack?"

"Studying history with Lorie, why?" he responded, only realizing his mistake after it was already made.

Kim froze, glaring at the words on the computer-screen she was currently reading – talk about going from one blond study-partner to the other. Jack quickly apologized, explaining to Kim how Lorie was surprisingly good at history and that they were seated next to each other in class and that she'd been the one to ask if he wanted to come over and study for their test on Friday. Kim rolled her eyes, saying it was no big deal and that he could study with whoever he wanted (even if she hated them) before going back to correct his essay.

"What are you gonna do about tonight?" Jack questioned, just to test if she was still pissed (if she was, he wouldn't receive an answer).

"I was planning on taking you with me to the mall and demand a very early birthday present," Kim admitted with a laugh. "Now, I'm gonna go and ruin Grace's closet."

"But you don't like her clothes?" Jack questioned, his eyebrows furrowed.

Kim smacked his arm, "On me! I don't like her clothes _on me_, but it's kind of the only choice I'm left with."

"Same thing," Jack muttered before flashing Kim a smile. "How's the grading coming, teacher?"

"Cute, and it's not, can I finish it for tomorrow?" Kim asked.

Considering they were being turned in on a Friday Jack didn't see the problem of getting it back from her on Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday afternoon, which is why he agreed before explaining he had to go see Lorie. Kim rolled her eyes at the mention of the other blonde's name, but other than that she didn't say much else than that she'd follow him to the door if he could hold it for three seconds. She slammed her computer shut and placed it on her desk, catching Jack in the doorway as they made their way downstairs.

"Kinda early for a study-session, don't you think?" Kim question as they reached the bottom. "I mean, school ended like a couple of hours ago."

"We just had one … well, more of a fashion-show and typing than a study-session, but still," he responded as he started searching for his jacket. "Besides, the earlier it is the more work we can go through."

"Right, cause Lorie's so good at history," Kim spat.

Saying this, she kicked at James' favorite sneakers with a glare – even an idiot could tell she didn't like Lorie … or history, for that matter. And though she'd never tell Jack, she didn't like that her best friend was so nice he hung out with people he knew she didn't like just because they asked nicely. But then again, she knew that Jack thought it was pretty childish of her; heck, he'd basically given her a lecture after she popped the balloon Lorie gave him, so kicking shoes was as far as she dared to go.

Jack chuckled, "Just because I have history with her that doesn't mean I don't have chemistry with you, Kim."

Arching an eyebrow, Kim glared at her best friend, "Say that again, Prince Charming."

"Kim, please, I was talking about studying tomorrow during our free-period!" he exclaimed as he put his jacket on. "God, I don't even like you like that."

"Idiot!" Kim threw back, though smiling because she knew he was joking and didn't mean anything bad by it. "I completely forgot about that."

"Thanks, you're a great friend," Jack said sarcastically, throwing in a fake smile as he picked up his shoes.

Kim rolled her eyes, "That's what you get for choosing the wrong blonde."

"Wrong blonde?" Jack questioned, laughing. "You know, hadn't it been for the fact that it's you, having the option between two blondes sounds pretty nice."

Kim arched an eyebrow at him, but other than that didn't bother with further comment – they both knew he preferred brunettes anyways. As he slipped on his last shoe, Kim opened the door for his stupid ass and waited until he'd started walking down the street before she went back in and slammed the door shut behind her. Pulling out her phone from the pocket of her sweatpants, Kim texted Grace to let her know she would be the reason for a ruined closet when the brunette got back from work (waitress at captain corndog).

About an hour later, Kim stood outside her front door fumbling around anywhere she could've thought of putting her house keys with a plastic bag that was stuffed with clothes from her on-and-off best friend's closet. She had only found one dress she could actually wear without feeling like someone she wasn't, while the rest of the clothes were skirts and cute tops along with that knitted sweater she'd wanted to borrow forever.

When she discovered that she'd never even taken her keys with her when she left and that they were still underneath the doormat, she mentally punched herself in the gut. As she unlocked the door, her phone rang, displaying a quite unattractive duck-face picture of Grace to let her know who was calling. The call was answered immediately, and a couple of minutes later when she entered her bedroom they were still talking even though Kim had tripped on the stairs on her way up.

"Oh my freaking god," Kim cut off Grace's rant about the cute guy who'd came in sometime during her working hours.

"What?" Grace inquired, slightly annoyed.

"My room's clean," she breathed out, still surprised beyond belief. "And there's a bag from the Cute Store on my bed."

Grace chuckled at that, "God, what girl doesn't want to come home to that?"

Normally, Kim would've laughed, but looking around she realized she couldn't – not only was her floor clean of clothes, it had definitely been vacuumed too. Opening the door to her beloved walk-in, she was shocked yet again when she saw how nicely everything was folded in all the right places with more of a system than she'd ever managed to make for herself. She did a one-eighty spin so she was facing her bed and the Cute Store bag, wondering what she would find when she opened it.

"Kim, you still there?" Grace's voice interrupted the silence she'd unintentionally made.

Kim nodded, before realizing a second later Grace couldn't see her, "Yeah, I'm here, just a bit blown away … my closet's organized, Grace!"

"Girl, you got yourself a keeper right there!" The brunette declared, chuckling. "Now that we're in on the subject, do you even know who the keeper is?"

Kim was barely listening to her co-captain talking, as she had opened the mystery bag to calm her curiosity before it gave her a heart attack. Her hand got a hold of a soft material, and looking down she realized the piece of clothing was blue – sky blue with a decorated collar and no sleeves, to be exact. Pulling it out, she realized there was more in the bag than she'd originally thought; she could spot a pair of earrings that went surprisingly well with the dress, the bracelet she'd had her eye on for a while and an envelope with no writing on it.

"Kiiiiiim!" Grace whined. "Are you even listening?!"

Kim slipped the bracelet on, admiring and loving how perfect it was, "Sure."

"Do you know who did this for you?" Grace repeated her question.

"I have a hunch," Kim admitted, a smile gracing her lips.

"Well then why are we still talking?!" The brunette exclaimed, making Kim laugh. "Call this person and thank them immediately! Oh, and if it's a guy, ask him out on Friday!"

If Kim hadn't known Grace so well she knew that last sentence was coming, she would most likely have started laughing at her best girl friend. But because she'd been expecting it, Kim decided to focus on the dress which she'd laid out on her bed just to be able to admire it longer. It was absolutely perfect for the dinner she had with her dad in around two hours, and the white feather earrings worked perfectly with it, mostly because of the white decoration on the collar. Silently screaming with joy, she appreciated how well her 'keeper' knew her, but then she realized she couldn't go out with them on Friday – both of the reasons she had were stupid, but obvious.

Frowning, Kim picked up the white envelope, "But I thought we were going shopping on Friday?"

"Not anymore we're not! Bye babe!" Grace declared.

Kim rolled her eyes, chuckling, "Bye, hun, I'll call you later with all the details."

Throwing her phone on her pillow, Kim decided that her 'keeper' would hear from her later, considering saying thanks a million times would probably take longer than doing her hair and changing into the dress. She left her sweatpants and t-shirt on her bed as she slipped on her dress and went to curl her hair. Putting on another layer of lip gloss, she put on her new earrings and flashed a smile at her all in all appearance – the dress actually didn't look horrible on her.

She had just sat down on the floor to grab a pair of heels from underneath her bed when she remembered she had someone to call – reaching for the black ballerina shoes with one hand, she grabbed a hold of her phone with the other. As she slipped on her shoes and complimented herself for having bought the ones without a bow (it would've been too much), she dialed in an all too familiar number before putting her phone to her ear.

It was still ringing when she got tired of sitting on the floor and made to stand up before she started looking for the lip gloss she couldn't remember where she'd left. She was more than ready to slam her phone to the floor when she realized the other person had no intention whatsoever of picking up when voicemail made her stop dead in her tracks.

"Hey, you've reached Jack, except I can't get to the phone right now. Anyway, leave me a message and I'll get back to you."

Kim rolled her eyes, "Hey, it's me … uh, thank you, you know, for the gift and going temporary house-keeper on me. Seriously, the dress is perfect. Right, well, bye Jack."

Hanging up and grabbing her lip gloss from her bed along with the white envelope, Kim made her way downstairs to her awaiting father and jealous older brother who'd drowned his sorrows with chocolate and FIFA with his best friend. She put her stuff in the small bag she'd dug out from her closet earlier that day and took a seat with the seniors on the couch, complaining about how bad they were when they didn't say anything other about how she looked than 'hmmm' and 'something's different … I just don't know what'.

"Ready to go, Kimmy?" the oldest Crawford questioned, emerging from the downstairs bathroom that none of his kids used.

Kim shrugged, "If you wanna go out looking like _that_, then sure."

Kim's phone rang on their way to the place where the party was being held, and her dad said she should take it even though it had interrupted the story he was telling her. Still laughing from her dad's story, Kim hit the answer button without really looking and replied with a 'hey, waddup?', trying not to laugh at how her dad had started impersonating Rihanna on the radio.

"Hey Kim, I got your message," Jack said.

Kim muttered a small 'mhm', because she was positive that if she said anything else she would burst out laughing – her father hadn't even heard the song Diamonds before! Jack started telling her about how horrible studying with Lorie went because she'd forgotten her book, he believed she did it on purpose, and therefore they had to share his. Apparently, Lorie couldn't write notes to save her life, and she had a stupid dog that might just as well be her new study-partner because he wasn't having it. She loved to talk, and had according to Jack talked constantly, just not about the subject they had a test on the next day.

"That sucks," Kim tried sympathizing. "But hey, don't say I didn't warn you."

"I guess I won't," Jack agreed.

Looking down at her dress, Kim decided to thank him another time, "Thanks for the dress Jack, and the cleaning, and the bracelet and the earrings … you really shouldn't have."

"Consider the dress an apology for choosing Lorie over you, and I kinda owed you for making my house sparkle that day I was sick," Jack responded.

Kim could practically see him shrug once his sentence was finished, and how his eyebrows would furrow in annoyance when she coughed and added the correction 'mansion' somewhere in the middle of it. Her dad chuckled at her antics, which made her slap his arm lightly and tell him to shut up and go back to his Rihanna. This made Jack wonder what he'd done wrong and why he should go Rihanna, and in a second Kim was back to laughing her head off all over again.

"Okay, so how do you explain my new earrings and favorite bracelet?" Kim eventually asked.

"The girl who worked there said that if I got the dress, I just_ had_ to get the earrings to go with," he explained. "And as far as the bracelet goes … you've been wanting to get it for ages, I figured it was a pretty good investment."

"Right," Kim smiled. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure, go ahead," Jack replied.

Kim fiddled with the hem of her new dress, smiling at her reflection in the side-mirror her dad was probably using to park. Instead of actually ditching her for the other blonde study-partner, he'd cleaned up her mess and bought her the perfect dress with earrings that went with and the bracelet she'd been staring at for way too long. All she'd done in return was insult his study-partner and only grade half his essay – for once in her life, Kim realized it was about time she listened to her stubborn, boy-loving best friend.

"Are you free Friday?" she wondered.

Jack chuckled, "Sure, why?"

"We haven't sparred in a while, and I just," Kim shrugged. "How would you feel about trading all of the study-sessions for an extra workout?"

"I'd love it," Jack answered. "Enjoy the dinner, Kim, I should get back to history."

"Aww, is your book missing you?" Kim teased with a smile.

Kim's father chuckled again, causing his daughter to glare at him as Jack threw some stupid comment back at her. Just before hanging up on each other the two of them made further plans about their double date with their chemistry books – Kim claimed they were Grace's words, but Jack wasn't too sure – because they had no classes together before the beloved free period. Kim thanked him yet again, and he laughed before reassuring her it was no big deal, and then he told her to enjoy the dinner even though every single person in the room had probably gone or was still going to Swathmore.

"Idiot," Kim muttered. "Oh, and hey, one more thing!"

"Yeah?" Jack inquired.

A smile formed on the blonde's face again, "You are still giving me a birthday-present, right?"

Laughingly, Jack responded, "Of course, Kim, of course."

"Oh great, 'cause there's this knitted sweater that Grace has and never lets me borrow, it's like-"

"Bye Kim, hanging up now!"

Silence followed, with Kim frowning at her phone and her dad grinning mockingly at her while tapping his fingers on the steering-wheel to the beat of the music. Rolling her eyes and telling her dad to go back to his Rihanna so he'd leave her alone, she got out the white envelope from her bag and opened it – like she'd suspected, it contained card with her best friend's handwriting on it. The writing explained to her that the dress-shopping was a one-time thing, that she shouldn't expect getting anything but his chemistry-notes in the future and that he definitely chose the right blonde to be best friends with.

"He chose another blonde over you?" Her dad inquired, catching a quick glance at the card in her hands.

"Oh, shut up, it was a one-time thing!" Kim countered.

Mr. Crawford chuckled, focusing on the road again, "I thought him getting you nice things was the one-time thing in this story?"

"Dad, you're an idiot," Kim complained, leaning back in her chair with the card still in her hands. "And so is Jack … yet, you both picked the perfect blonde to have in your lives, so I guess I can't hate you."

"Okay, since when was your brother anything close to perfect?"

"Daaaaaaad!"

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**A/N: What is it with me and bad endings? Anyway, my brother told me to write about two blondes fighting over him when I told him I had a writer's block, and this is what came of it ... not that they're actually fighting or that I compare Jack to my brother, I just sort of only listened to the 'two blondes'-part of his idea. Next chapter is being worked on, by the way, if you're lucky it'll be out early July; if not, it'll still be out in July (just not early).**

**Review, alert, favorite - I love the emails I get either way!  
- Brooke.**


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